Tarnished Side: An AU skewing of FF7
by Quinctia
Summary: The large summary is just a click away. Much of the plot of FF7 is based on the outcome of a war, the war between Shinra and Wutai. What if Wutai had won the war, and Shinra wasn't quite in control of the world yet...? Multi-genre.
1. Part 1: Phoenix Rising - Prologue

Enter a new world. Where one pivotal event in history has been altered, changing the course of the future in a Planet-shattering way.

Would life be brighter? If Nibelheim never burned, Gongaga never was destroyed, and the city of Junon was never completed?

The founder of the Jenova Project was executed quietly. The experiment destined to be the greatest general of all time has been tossed aside as a failure.

You ask how this would be, and I beg you to consider this: What if Wutai had won the war?

If these results seem to solve all the problems in the world... Just remember that even the most glittering coin has its tarnished side.

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**Tarnished Side**

_An AU skewing of the game Final Fantasy VII, an inception of Quinctia._

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Part 1- Phoenix Rising

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Prologue

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Green. Vegetation represented the natural, the clean, the freedom of the land outside. Sky blue, earth brown, leaves green.

The stems of the flowers she sold were green. The bills which she received in return were green. Her eyes, so warm and lovely, the projectors of every emotion she had ever felt–her eyes were green.

Green represented life. Pressing her fingers against the glass, Aeris marveled that the blood flowing inside her wasn't green. The glowing liquid inside this pipeline was green.

The Shinra propaganda may have fooled Midgar's population into thinking the power company was completely open, but...something seemed off. There was something about this power source that, since twenty years ago had given the power company a monopolizing hold on the Planet.

Until the war, that is. But Shinra still held half the world in its clutches yet...all because of this green glowing liquid.

(It's the life of the Planet) the flower girl mused, standing up. As she brushed herself off, in another part of the city, a train pulled into a station.

The station at sector 1.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

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Hopping out of the train door, the bald man was confronted immediately by an armed foot soldier. With a few swift kicks, the guy was on his knees, wanting his mommy, and the bald man hadn't even shown a facial expression.

"Good job, Rude," commented the statuesque brunette, who had followed him off the train.

He merely nodded, noting that when a pretty smile lit up her features, one could barely notice the purple scar marring the right side of her face.

"Are we gonna stand here and chit chat, Tifa?" A third person joined them on the platform.

"Of course not, Zack."

"Then get your asses in gear," he urged them. As the group ran off, he turned back to the train. "And you, get on the fucking ball, newbie."

"Don't rush an artist," came the reply. The thin red-haired man flipped out the train door with a grand gesture, only to be ambushed by another foot soldier. Grinning, he dodged the first bullet and swung hard with his nightstick. Pressing a button on the side, he watched as the soldier was electrocuted. "Better cut down on the frying. It's bad for your health."

"Come on," muttered Zack. "Reno, we're on a schedule."

"You're ignorant of the way the street works." Reno leaned over the charred corpse, finding a few gil coins and an undamaged Ice materia. Slapping the orb into an empty slot on his simple armlet, he stood upright. "Just because I'm new to your group doesn't make me a fresh, green, naïve little boy."

Zack merely glared back at him.

Flashing another grin, he began to walk away. "Well," he said, glancing back, "I thought we were on a schedule."

* * * * * *

"So we're blowing this thing up?"

"Not so loud," hissed Tifa.

"Hold your horses, scarface, I want to get filled in on why the hell you guys exactly want to destroy part of this city."

Rude shook his head and went back to entering access codes.

"I speak Rude gestures," said Zack sarcastically, "that one means you should have been asking this question _before_ you hooked up on this mission."

"That's it? Come on." Reno raised an eyebrow. "You know you wanna try and recruit me to your glorious cause."

"Look...we're on a mission to take out the enemy. If they get the strength to finally finish Junon, complete with the big guns and impenetrable armor, we're all screwed. Not just us here, but all of our family and friends back home."

"Your 'back home' people sided with Wutai, that makes this imminent danger your own damn fault. Wutai's victory fifteen years ago was a fluke. A fluke you can thank that dumbass Sephiroth for." Reno snickered. "Not that the Shinra aren't assholes, too. That's why _my_ cause is the best one. The cause of money."

"That seems like a damn lonely side," said Tifa.

"But honey, think about it. Even if your terrorist group fails at bringin' down Shinra, I win. I have the money to _buy_ security. Same thing goes if your foolish pipe dream does manage to bring a billion-gil corporation to its knees."

"Don't you even care about their tyranny and oppression? That the awe-inspiring victory of Wutai means absolutely nothing if Shinra conquers the free people, anyway, even if not by brute force?"

Reno reached up and caressed her cheek. "Sweet thing, as long as you pay me, I'll try my damnedest to make your mission a success. I can even pretend to believe in it if the situation requires." He slid his hand lower along her body. "And maybe afterward..."

"I'm in." Rude stepped back from the console, and the door to the reactor slid open.

Reno turned from Tifa. "We'll talk later." Patting Rude on the shoulder condescendingly, he smirked. "And to you, congrats on achieving the art of the sentence, man."

* * * * * *

The explosion had lit up the skies brighter than any Victory Day fireworks. Then again, Victory Day was a cover-up for the Wutaian defeat. Shinra's claims of victory in the war fifteen years ago had been a fabrication.

The Planet had told Aeris that much of the truth. Perhaps that's why the blast had scared her so much. What if that old enemy was coming to finish off Midgar, once and for all? Twenty minutes passed before she allowed herself to emerge from the abandoned car that she had used as a makeshift shelter.

She decided to head straight home. People were rushing around her with a strange sense of urgency. Home sounded pretty good.

Suddenly, someone knocked into her, full force. Landing hard on her bottom, Aeris winced in pain and watched in disappointment as the contents of her basket scattered all over the alley. Then she realized that the person's head was in her lap. "Excuse me," she said softly.

"You know that whole 'watching where you're going' thing...it's a good idea," the guy mumbled as he slowly sat up. "You're quite solid, honey, do you work out?"

A giggle.

"Wow, most girls would've strangled me by now." He flashed her a smile. "I'm Reno, and I'm sorry for knocking you over...even if your lap is quite the nice place to be."

"You're the first person who's apologized for spilling my flowers. Happens quite a bit," she said softly.

"Mean ol' Midgar." He stood and reached a hand down to help her up. "Actually, I probably have spilled your flowers before. Guess it takes falling on top of a sweet thing like you to actually notice her."

"You're coming on to me!"

"Is that a complaint or a startling realization?"

"Probably a combination of both." She rolled her eyes and looked at her flowers sadly. Reaching down and picking up her basket, she began to collect the broken blossoms.

"Hey...like I said, I'm sorry about the flowers." Reno stuck his hands in his pockets. As he fidgeted, a jingle rose to his ears. "Oh, I completely forgot!" He pressed the gil pieces into her hand. "Maybe this'll make up for it."

"I don't need your money–"

"Shut up and take it, before my conscience ceases to exist for another month. I'm getting paid soon tonight anyway, so it's no biggie."

She looked at the coins warily. (They look like they've been in a fire...)

"I just want one thing in return. A date."

Aeris stared at him in astonishment. "A date?"

"Hell, _I'll_ even bring _you_ flowers. Where do you live?"

Her head was spinning. "Sector 5..." she managed. "...the _slums_," she added softly. (Why am I doing this? I can't have this grungy guy coming over and asking my mom if he can have the pleasure of my company.)

Reno slapped himself. "Jeez, I almost forgot. What's your name?"

She spoke softly. "It's–"

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Several footsoldiers came running down the street. One of them spotted Reno and yelled. "There's one of them!"

He gave an apologetic smile to Aeris and began to run in the opposite direction. "We'll finish this later, flower girl..." His voice trailed as he ran off into the night, soldiers behind him in hot pursuit.

She cautiously followed behind, just in time to see the thin man pause in front of the train tracks. His bright blue-green eyes caught hers, and he gave her a wink.

The sound of whistling grew closer, and the vibration of an oncoming locomotive resounded underneath the street.

"Ta ta, gentlemen!" called Reno, as he backflipped onto the top of the rushing train, disappearing into the darkness as it entered a tunnel.

Aeris ducked back into the shadows of the alley, before the soldiers could recognize her. Heart pounding, she shook her head and sat back down on the cold, hard ground. (The last person I need to have in my life is another renegade.)

* * * * * *

The rumble inside the train was only slightly deafening. Just enough so the three people in the freight car had to yell to be heard.

"I wonder what happened to Reno." Tifa sighed. "At first, he seemed like a candidate for the long haul."

"He's an egotistical jackass," stated Rude plainly.

For awhile, the only noticeable sound was the rattle of the door latch.

"He acted like he was eager to help. Plus, he had all that knowledge from escaping Shinra jail."

"You sweet on him, Lockhart?" asked Zack.

"Of course not. It's just he was so hateful towards the Shinra when I met him at my bar."

"He thrives here. Stench of Shinra coats him."

Tifa shrugged and looked away. "If he can help us, it wouldn't matter if it were Sephiroth himself. It's just too bad he's–"

There was a loud crash as the train door was kicked open and a man jumped inside. Sliding the cover back, Reno turned to the group. "What can I say? Love dramatic entrances."

.

Tifa suppressed her happy reaction into a tiny smile. "So you did make it."

"Of course doll, I need to get paid. Managed to run out of cash. I bought some flowers."

"Flowers?"

"Yeah, knocked a pretty girl's basket over."

"You'll get your money when we make it back to the hideout." Zack gave him a hard look.

"Sure thing, sir." Reno performed a mock Soldier salute. "Then we can discuss the terms of my next mission."

The train lurched to a halt. "This is the stop," remarked Rude, throwing the door open and stepping outside, followed by Reno.

"Next mission, huh?"

Tifa turned her eyes downward.

Zack stepped towards her. "If he can help us with our _mission_, then we must keep him. No other reason. He's not worth your bother. You deserve better than him...if not because he was once the leader of a Midgar street gang, then because he doesn't respect you."

She stepped towards him. "I hear jealousy in your voice…that, and fear. Who's losing sight of the mission?"

He slowly descended to the platform, watching the slender girl run through a place where the sun would never shine, and rain would never fall. The sun never set on the slums–that was because sunrise never came.

There was more than one thing he was fighting for.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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Sector 7 was one of the more tolerable slums, for a number of reasons. The first was its age. The portion of the plate sealing it off from the sky was a recent development, compared to other areas of the city. The corresponding reactor had yet to be activated. So while the streets were lined with dying trees, at least the residents there remembered what the trees looked like when they were thriving. The people had managed to save some hope, though that was as dwindling as the life-force of the vegetation.

Secondly, there existed a tavern. Tragic Eternity was its name; the image of a fallen angel graced its logo. Tifa had helped found the bar, with the aid of a local woman named Jessie Baxter.

The group from the train filed into the bar, with some yawns and stretching. "How'd it go?" asked Jessie, from behind the counter.

"All in all, I think it was all right," Zack said as he straddled the barstool. "Gimme something hard."

She slid a brimming shot glass over to him and turned to the others. "Guys?"

Rude merely shook his head and walked over to an arcade console. Moogle-man. It was a retro title with some little white puffy circle going around, eating pellets. He reached underneath, pushing a hidden button, and the entire section of floor descended into a basement below.

"Well, I have to say, _that's_ clever." Reno slung his arm over Tifa's shoulders. "Did your brilliant mind come up with that one?"

"Actually, Jessie is the techno-whiz."

"No shit..."

The girl just blushed and refilled Zack's glass.

Tifa was eager to regain his attention. "Well, the pool table was my idea."

Reno patted her on the shoulder. "We'll have to play a game sometime, kiddo. I'll take a handicap. You go for the eight-ball. I'll have to get the rest in first."

She rolled her eyes and walked over to the hidden elevator. "You're coming down, right?"

"Sure thing."

Zack slammed the empty shot glass down and walked to her side. "Let me go down with you."

.

Jessie took out a rag and started wiping the counter vigorously. "What you lookin' so smug about, Reno?"

"I thought this group was ragtag when you introduced me to 'em, Jess, but it turns out ragtag can cut it. The Shinra defenses are down to zilch. They're either complacent, or incompetent, or a combination of both."

"They're not unaware of the incident tonight. Their propaganda is already filling the television airwaves."

"I have faith. If we can get you another month or so, you'll be able to intercept that and reveal whatever you want as the 'truth.'"

She shook her head. "We don't want power. We just want the people to know the actual truth. That the people that the Shinra tells them not to trust are really just people like them. And the Shinra are the real enemy here."

"Is this what it's all about, then? Tell me something else, why is it that you're the guts of this operation, but little miss tight top over there is all the glory?"

"Zack is the leader."

"Bullshit, Jessica," Reno shook his head. "Look, little cousin, the only person with real control here is Tifa. Because you gave it to her."

"If you don't like the way I run things, then you can just–"

"I want you to be safe, I want you to be successful. I can't help that I also want all of Zack's money I can get. But it drives me nuts to see those brown puppy dog eyes staring at me like my every whim could be promised if I screwed her. Like she's the key to it all, when everything they accomplish is due to you."

"Reno!"

"I may have only been twelve, but when your father left for the war, I promised I'd look after you until he came back. He died in Wutai, so I'm bound for life. I want you to tell me, what do you want to do next?"

"Why don't we go down and address the group?" Jessie stepped over to the Moogle-man game.

He nodded and ruffled her hair.

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"I think we need a name," said Tifa as the two walked into the hideout.

"Whatever you want is fine with me," said Jessie, as she hopped onto the chair at her workstation. "Oooh! ...my calculations for the explosive device worked out perfectly. How were the passcards for the train?"

"Fine, as always, Jess," said Zack, with a look of boredom on his face.

"Good, because we'll need them for the next mission."

"Next mission?" Rude lowered his sunglasses and peered at her.

"_We_?" Tifa shook her head. "Jessie, you can't be serious."

"I am... If this is my 'unnamed terrorist group,' then I have to be out there and active. Not sitting here in the bar every time you guys go out."

"I'm sure they understand that," said Reno. "But I'm still wary of the cards. Shinra technology could screw up enough just to notice that they're not real cards."

"What is this 'next mission,' Jessie?" asked Zack, interrupting him.

"It's another reactor...the complementary one in the cycle. I think it will wound Midgar, and show them we're serious. If they think we can and will take out all the reactors, I'm sure they will try and listen to us."

Silence filled the room.

"What's wrong, guys..." She nervously fidgeted. "I thought that's what we wanted to do. Get them where we want them."

"Are you honestly so stupid as to think that they would listen to our demands?" Zack shook his head. "They're monsters, every single last one of them. They only care about profit, about gil. If they can make money without the Mako, you can be damn sure that they won't give a shit about a small group like us and our 'demands.'"

"Then what the fuck are you doing here, Zack?" sneered Reno.

"Stay out of this–"

"Stay out of what? You whining and moaning because you don't like your directives, thinking that it skews your mission into some tiny little insignificant thorn in a lion's paw, when that's all it ever was? Even if you did manage to bind together your half of the world, the chances that it would beat Shinra is low. The Wutai win was a toss of a many sided die that chanced to pop up with their lucky number."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to live free."

"Of course there is, I'm sure someone like you would find something to bitch and moan about."

"I'm not the one dependent on _me_ for my paycheck!"

"Stop it!" screamed Tifa.

The two men turned away from each other, disgusted.

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"We're not helping anything here. Zack...we should follow Jessie's suggestion. Listening to her has never gotten us off course before. I was only concerned for her safety. And Reno...if you want to keep your job...you don't have to sympathize with or understand our m.o., but we can't keep you with us if you will ridicule it."

"I am what I am."

"And this group is also what it is. If you didn't know when you signed on, you know now."

"I haven't started running, Tifa."

She nodded. "Zack, I think you should pay him now."

The dark haired man tossed a medium sized gil pouch to the center of the room. Reno scooped it up, examining the contents. "It looks good. Now about the next mission..."

"Aren't you doing it?"

"Yes, hon, just trying to get a raise out of the deal."

"How much?" asked Zack.

"Twenty-five. Percent."

"Get your ass out the door..."

Reno opened his mouth to form the word "fine," but glanced at his cousin. Mournful, deep blue eyes were fixed on his. "How about ten percent?"

"I can live with that." He stood up. "Sleep down here if you want, I'm going to my place."

The group made their way up the elevator, leaving Reno alone in the hideout. He sighed, remembering Jessie, before she went up to the bar. She had mouthed the words.

"Thank you."

* * * * * *

"How'd you sleep?" Tifa was bouncing around with a bit too much perkiness for someone about to execute a mission of blowing stuff up.

"I dunno." Reno rolled his neck around on his shoulders, stretching his arms above his head. "Do rocks sleep?"

She smiled brightly. "I can make you breakfast. Or…I think Zack actually left a couple cinnamon rolls."

"I probably couldn't stomach it, doll."

"Hey!" She put her hands on her hips and pouted.

"I'm a very, very delicate mercenary man," he protested. "Besides, just because Zack praises your cooking don't mean it's particularly good. Otherwise, wouldn't the guy be getting fatter?"

Tifa smacked him. "You should be nicer to your employers."

"You should stop trying to make me _more_ than an employee."

"Right, like I–" She rolled her eyes and walked to the door. "Look, everyone else is already at the train station. We're catching the one that comes in fifteen minutes. If you don't make it, good riddance."

He followed her, calling out the doorway. "You know you want a ride on this–" Reno grinned and walked over to the counter of the bar. Grabbing a cinnamon roll and taking a big bite, he hurried to catch up with the other members of his cute little terrorist organization.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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"The train is about to pull out, Teef," muttered Zack.

"He's coming."

The locomotive engine groaned as the train began to lurch forward.

"Damn him."

"We need him for the mission–"

"Like hell we do! Stop trying to make our mission, which is _business_, into something personal."

"We do need him this time though," said Jessie softly. "Rude and I need to guard the doors. We're the only ones that know the technology. That leaves Reno to set the bomb, and you two to watch his back."

"No use for any of us if we can't get there." Rude paused, then nodded towards the entrance of the station.

The man walked up to them hair mussy, clothes disheveled, and eyes ablaze. Reno also happened to be ten minutes late.

"Thanks a lot! Another train doesn't come for at least an hour!" Tifa crossed her arms.

He shrugged and turned towards the tracks. "Where we going... Sector 5?"

"Yeah," said Zack. "Not much service there–"

"Good thing I don't rely on others then." Reno jumped onto the tracks and began walking towards the tunnel.

"Stupid." Rude adjusted his sunglasses.

"No, he's onto something. It'll be empty if no trains are coming, and we should be able to bypass the security checkpoints." Jessie followed behind him, then she waved.

"If this fails, and we live through failing," Zack muttered, "I want a new leader."

* * * * * *

Getting past the robots and ducking the security cameras had been hard. Judging how much farther the group had left to go, though, turned out to be harder.

"Dammit, I thought you said we were close!" Zack snorted derisively.

"Hey, I said I _thought_ we were close," protested Reno. "Don't forget last mission was my first time in one of these things, too."

"Just come on, then." He was unable to think of a comeback. "What's eating you, Tifa?" He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Nothing," she said quickly, startled. "Nothing at all." Her heart skipped a beat. (Only memories.)

* * * * * *

_The small band of Shinra troops had descended onto Nibelheim, using the tavern to get drunk and the inn to sleep off their hangovers. When they awoke, this process was repeated._

_This wasn't the celebration of a hard-earned victory; this was the drowning of a shameful defeat. Five years after the war, a surprise second assault had failed miserably._

_Their leader hung back, not joining in with his men. Green Mako eyes haunted the memories of anyone who had seen him. He had decided to lock himself up in a private room for awhile, and the townspeople were very thankful._

_One day, chance dictated that he head out to the tavern for a hot lunch. Just outside the entrance, a blond boy collided into the commanding figure._

_One glare of the Mako eyes set the child to trembling, but that was not enough. "Where is your father," he demanded, "that he couldn't manage to teach a snot-nosed brat like you to watch where he walked?"_

_His blue eyes filled with unshed tears, but the boy managed to speak. "He died in Wutai–fi...fighting the Shinra scum!"_

_The general grabbed the child by the collar. "Come." His voice was filled with fury. "You will see why a child should be seen and not heard."_

_A girl had watched this encounter in quiet fear. Noticing that the man was heading up the trail to Mt. Nibel, she hesitated before following behind._

.

_He tossed the boy to the floor right outside the core of the new Nibel reactor. "We build you a shiny power plant, treat your simple village with more respect than it deserves, yet...you peasants side with the barbarians against us!"_

"_You guys try to control–"_

_A long, thin sword swung, leaving a large, ugly gash on the left side of the boy's face. The man didn't seem to hear the soft gasp coming from behind a barrel near him._

_The girl watched in terror. (How can this man use his sword on a kid?!)_

"_Their children proclaim our 'worthlessness' in the streets...yet we hold their entire existence in our hands!" Flipping back silver hair, he challenged the boy with his eyes. "You, who dare to mock us, speak your name, so I can figure out to which mother I should deliver the pieces."_

_He stood. "Cloud Strife." Something showed in his eyes; this was not complete surrender. "This is for my father," he said, wielding a dagger._

_The man was taken completely by surprise, but Cloud wasn't tall enough to reach his throat. The wound he left on the chest bled enough, but wasn't critical. The man tossed him aside with ease._

_Stumbling on the catwalk, Cloud fell to his knees. Gasping, he turned in time to see the shadow fall over him._

.

"_No!" screamed the girl, barreling into the Soldier, sandwiching the man between herself and Cloud._

_The man yelled in rage and pain as Cloud took the opportunity to again lay into the general with his dagger. With a burst of energy, the man threw the girl off of him and swung hard at Cloud._

_For a brief moment, the boy held onto the catwalk, refusing to let go and give up. He noticed the girl who had helped him. "Tifa?" he whispered._

_Then the soldier kicked Cloud, who let go, falling hundreds of feet into the Mako pools below. "The Lifestream will drown him," said the man, emotionless. "But what shall I do with you, little girl?" he sneered._

_Tifa slowly backed to the railing, stealing a glance down into the Mako._

"_In some ways, you're lucky. I have no use for your body, and I don't feel like killing you. I shall teach you a lesson. Kneel."_

_She slowly did as she was told, a tear slipping down her face._

"_Heed my words, child. I leave you today so you live to suffer...and never forget how powerless you truly are. Lest your memory become unreliable..." With one stroke of his blade, he left a wound on the right side of her face, mirroring Cloud's. "I'll let your reflection remind you."_

_She was left as she was, on her knees...and bleeding._

* * * * * *

Tifa gazed at the core of the Sector 5 reactor. (These all look the same, even like that little one back in Nibelheim...all those years ago.) She couldn't remember having ever liked the Shinra, but her vendetta against them had begun about ten years ago–after a classified attack on Wutai was aborted, making the company's prized general a failure twice over.

His name could be heard along with mocking laughter on the streets of Midgar. The Shinra had built a city filled with inhabitants nearly as ruthless as they themselves were. In Tifa's head, however, the name only echoed along with hopes for vengeance. It streamed through her head like a mantra during her teen years, when she trained with a master martial artist named Zangan.

Her life in Midgar, her true mission, only existed for revenge. In every thing she did, she heard his name.

(Sephiroth.)

.

"I've got it!" Reno hopped back from the time bomb, admiring his handiwork, and disintegrating Tifa's reverie.

"Shouldn't we get going?" Tifa raised an eyebrow.

"Sure," he said. "No huge rush, though."

The three of them had made it out of the core room and a little ways down the hallway before they were interrupted. By the loud whirring of a helicopter.

A tall young man dropped down onto the walkway in front of them. "Greetings from Shinra, Inc."

"Look who's playing errand-boy for Daddy." Reno laughed.

"Tsk, tsk." Rufus Shinra shook a finger at him. "You don't leave yourself much room for mockery. After all...you refused a job with _us_ to take up with a group too inept to even name itself."

He snorted in return. "I think that's more a reflection on your company."

Ignoring Reno, the vice-president fixed his eyes on Tifa. "Now you, sweetheart, don't look like you're so worthless you need this crew."

She turned her head, revealing her scar. "I have my reasons," she said, burgundy eyes alight.

"Yeowch. Y'know, there are doctors who can fix that."

"Can they bring back the dead?" Tifa asked bitterly.

"Some of them can. Shinra is on the brink of breakthroughs in technology _and_ medicine!"

Zack rolled his eyes. "Well la-dee-fricken'-da. Can you do us a favor and kill us before you bore us to death?"

Rufus shrugged. "That's not in my job description. I'm just supposed to deliver a message. If you guys make it outside, remember that we will find you, nameless or not. Shinra only has one more mess to clean up, and that is you!" He climbed into the helicopter and flew away into the Midgar gloom.

"Did he say 'if you guys make it'?" Zack wondered out loud.

He was answered almost immediately by the sound of gears turning and a robotic voice. "You are not authorized. I must terminate you." A whir and a click. "Have a nice day."

He shook his head. "I just had to ask."

"Hey," said Reno, "on the bright side, at least we'll die knowing we've met the Shinra's politest employee."

* * * * * *

"Get me Amine on the phone, pronto."

"Yes sir!" The secretary quickly checked the database, dialed, and handed the phone to the commander of the Turks, batting her eyelashes and not so subtly displaying her cleavage. "Anything else, Sephiroth?"

"Yes," he said coldly. "Privacy."

"Hmph." She got up and made a big display of sauntering to the door and closing it behind her.

Someone picked up on the other line. _"Hello?"_

"Tseng."

"_What do you want? I took my leave of Shinra years ago for a reason. There was nothing left in it. I decided to take the right path, be responsible..."_

"And the president has allowed you your stupidity. You don't sound too grateful."

"_I can't be grateful, not when you keep hounding me about my–"_

"Well, the director of Science thinks he can work the late Dr. Hojo's Promised Land theories into a viable enterprise for the company."

"_Damn your needs to hell! You will not have my daughter...or my niece."_

"Ah yes, Ray–something. She must be nearly of age now. Tell me, do you happen to know where she is at the moment?"

"_Of course."_ Tseng paused. _"She went to a private training school..."_

"Oh, sir. I wish for your sake, that she _was_ there. But, if you would kindly turn the screen on your PHS to the Shinra video feed..."

Only a whisper was audible over the line. _"Dear god...no..."_

"We here at Shinra are not completely unreasonable. Favors are bestowed onto former servicemen such as yourself."

"_What do you want from me?"_

"Although we both know the girl was created by mixing your DNA with that of an Ancient, making her suitable for our plan...that's not the most favorable subject, as the original Ancient still lives. Rumor holds that you know her whereabouts."

"_Is this a trade?"_

"Certainly." Sephiroth smiled to himself. (At least the good man knows what he's dealing with.) "You come here and aid the Turks in finding Ms. Gainsborough, and we will release Raieyana to you, provided we can be allowed a DNA sample."

Tseng's voice was strong. _"I will do it. My loyalty to the girl exists because of Ray...but I am a father above all else."_

"Though we wish to have your help in person...if you give me a lead now, we could find her, and be able to release your daughter as soon as you arrive from Junon."

"_The only one I can think of is a church in the Sector 5 slums. She used to grow flowers there."_ A bit of pleading entered the man's usually cold voice. _"Please don't harm my daughter."_

"Thank you Mr. Amine. A Gelnika will arrive for you shortly, in the usual place." Hanging up the phone in disgust, Sephiroth made a promise to himself.

(I will never be controlled by something as irrational as an emotion. Only the strong withstand it, and can dictate their own lives.)


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

.

Zack and Tifa stood on one side of the robot; Reno on the other.

"Nothing we try seems to slow this thing down!" Tifa shook her head and concentrated on a Bolt spell. A burst of electricity pulsed into the machine, stunning it for a mere moment.

"Damn, is it shielded against Lightning or somethin'?" Zack darted forward, putting all his weight into a swing of his broadsword. Unfortunately, this blow glanced right off the galvanized coating.

"That spell was supposed to crack through that junk!"

The robotic guard rolled towards them, dealing out a generous supply of bullets. "What the fuck are you doing over there, Reno?!" screamed Zack, hand covering a wound in his left arm.

.

Reno looked up from the device he had been tinkering with. "I'm done. One word, you two: run."

Tifa was shocked. "What?! Are you craz–"

"Yes, but you're not, sugar...so run."

As the two turned tail and fled, Reno attracted its attention with a few shocks from his nightstick. The counter on the trigger slowly ticked off the seconds. _Eleven. Ten. Nine._

At the last second, Reno turned and dashed past the robot. After making a few strides past the bomb, he tripped, one of his shoelaces caught on a bolt. "Shit," he whispered, as the entire walkway collapsed with the impact, and he fell several stories into oblivion.

* * * * * *

Aeris knelt by the waterfall beside her home, probably the freshest source of water in all of the slums. Humming an old tune happily to herself, she dipped a watering can into the pool, filling it to the top.

As she reached for the other can, she got the strange feeling that she was being watched. Quickly finishing her business, she stood and half-ran back to the old church that was her sanctuary.

"Oh dear." The sight greeting her eyes was that of the roof collapsed on most of her flower bed. "Might as well inspect the damage."

The wreckage moved slightly and groaned.

"Hello?" she asked cautiously.

"This is hell, isn't it?" Another groan.

Leaning over, she managed enough muscle to move the beam that had been pinning the man. "I hope I'm not the devil, then." She giggled.

"I've heard that laugh before." Reno slowly opened his eyes. "This doesn't count as our date–"

"Why not?" A wink.

"Because I can't officially _ask_ you until I know your name." He struggled to sit up. "A little help here? I did fall off the plate, you know."

"Fell? You probably blew a hole in that pizza." She reached down and, grabbing his hand, pulled him up. "I'm Aeris."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Now that I'm doubly indebted to you, does that make for two dates then?"

She had stopped paying attention to him. Her eyes were fixated on a place behind him, and she looked kind of frightened.

"Geez, don't be so scared-looking. I was kidding."

Aeris shook her head slightly. "I think you've gotten an opportunity to repay me," she whispered.

"Huh?" Reno stood up–slowly–and turned to see what she was looking at.

Green Mako eyes.

"Oh no, they've found me," Reno and Aeris said together. Then... "They're after _you_?!"

Sephiroth shook his head. "I hope you're not trying to be cute. Otherwise, you've failed. Aeris, a pleasure to see you, as always." He smoothed the blue suit of his Turks uniform.

"I don't think we've met." She backed away a few steps.

"No? I know you rather well, though perhaps you haven't seen me watching you. Anyway, our head of Science has a world of ideas. Trouble is, our prized specimen has flown off and we need it back."

"Let me get this straight then..." Reno looked back and forth between them. "I'm free to go?"

"You're no concern of mine." Sephiroth waved a hand.

He waved to Aeris. "I guess this is bye for now. Keep a Friday night open for me, all right?"

"You're just gonna leave me here?!"

"I've got my own business, doll, but hang in there. I know you're a trooper."

Aeris watched in disbelief as he sauntered out the door, her mouth open wide. "Of all the nerv–"

Reaching over and grabbing Aeris by the wrist, Sephiroth sighed loudly. "We don't have all day. There's a helicopter waiting outside. I'm sure you know the drill by now."

Reluctantly, she allowed herself to be led out of the church. She and Sephiroth were flanked on either side by a soldier, though the measure went off without a hitch. Even the helicopter take-off was flawless.

Flawless, that is, if you discount the disheveled man who had wedged himself in and was hitching a ride on the landing gear.

* * * * * *

Tifa picked at her dinner, staring up at the news being broadcast on the television screen. "I wish I knew what happened to Reno. Even if he didn't make it, the Shinra would be using him as a scapegoat, wouldn't they?" She banged her fork down in disgust.

"I hate the waiting, too," Jessie said sympathetically. "At least we _are_ getting to the point where no news is good news...right?"

"We will as soon as the Rude-man gets back," Zack offered. "Geez, as much as I hate to admit it, we all owe the guy for his ballsy move back at the reactor. We were gonna be toast."

"Don't say _toast_!" Tifa sniffled.

Jessie put her hand on the girl's shoulder, comforting her. "Come on...my big cuz wouldn't die so easily."

.

They all looked up as Rude entered the bar. Silently, he took a stool and sat down. Jessie could swear, though, that she saw a smile twitching at the corners of his usually stone-set mouth.

"Well?" Tifa asked softly.

"Well," he said, "well, well, well. No news of Reno. Probably on his way back."

"That's good, right?"

"Of course," answered Jessie quickly. She eyed Rude carefully. "There's something else, isn't there?"

He nodded. "Found a rat. Said that a Turk was asking for our location. In Wall Market."

"Sector 6 is the next one over...dammit!" Zack slammed his fist on the counter.

"He spent time at a place called Don Corneo's. We need to find out what this Don guy said."

"So we just sneak in and bust the place–"

"Wrong. The man is looking for a bride. Only people allowed inside are women. Three a day, and one is picked to spend the night with him."

"Ah," said Jessie, "Teef and I could dress up and be sneaky girls."

"True. The only way to make sure we get to him, though, is to have a 'girl' in all three positions."

Jessie saw his mouth twitch again, and met Tifa's eyes. The busty girl was suppressing a giggle. Then she glanced at Zack.

He gave the three of them a funny look. "Why is everybody looking at me?"

Tifa's giggle broke through, and she laughed out loud.

"Oh man." He shook his head. "Not that."

Rude finally grinned. "Yes."

* * * * * *

Two aircraft touched down on the Shinra helipad at the same time. One helicopter, one Gelnika. Sephiroth stepped out with Aeris, just in time to be face-to-face with Tseng.

Reno watched from beneath the helicopter. (Is the Turk guy gonna hand her over?)

"I see you did find her."

Sephiroth nodded. "As easy as plucking a flower. Makes one wonder why _you_ never did it in the first place."

Tseng flinched. "Now, Raieyana. Before you take the other girl inside."

He nodded to his men. "Go bring the girl out."

"What is this?" demanded Aeris.

"He simply ratted you out," said Sephiroth sweetly. "Can't blame the man, though, we had something dear to him."

A brown haired girl came running out, blue skirt flowing behind her, slowly followed by the two men. She wrapped her arms around Tseng in a warm embrace. "Dad."

Aeris' eyes widened. "I never knew he had a–"

"Now you do." Sephiroth jerked her arm and quickly forced her inside.

One of the men turned to Tseng. "We'll call the pilot to fly you back to Junon."

He nodded, and the two soldiers walked back inside the building.

.

Reno had been taking this all in very carefully. Then, when the girl pulled back from her father, he finally got a good look at her.

She appeared to be in her late teens. He stared in amazement as he realized this girl could have been a twin to Aeris, or at the very least, a sister. The only difference lay in a different hair style–shoulder length wavy hair–and Mako eyes...though, on second glance, she did appear frailer.

"I tried to be careful. They got me when I stopped in Kalm for lunch."

"It turned out all right, this time. They just wanted to blackmail me for information."

She looked at him knowingly. "What information, exactly?"

"I told them where Aeris Gainsborough was." Tseng lowered his eyes.

"You did _what_? You wouldn't even tell me, and she's my–"

"It was for your safety."

Raieyana turned away. "Stop fooling yourself, Dad. Now they have her...of course they won't be satisfied without me. The last great thing Dr. Hojo did before they lost the war." Suddenly, she paused. "There's a man under that helicopter," she said, matter-of-factly.

Reno backed up a little, eyes still locked onto the green Mako ones. (I hope this doesn't get ugly. She's too cute to kill.)


	6. Part 2: Changing of the Tide - Chapter ...

Part 2- Changing of the Tide

.

Chapter 5

.

Wall Market had the creepy atmosphere that had become almost synonymous with underplate life. Rude could never walk through the place without getting chills down his spine. Though both his father and older brother died in Shinra's epic loss, part of him remained thankful. That loss had set back the company enough for him to have grown up seeing the sun.

(Every village covered by this floating hell would have been reduced to this. That's why Shinra must be stopped. Our home must remain inhabitable.)

The stern man peeked over his trademark sunglasses, keeping a silent guard over a shop, as the others picked out dresses. That was his part in this mission, to resist the delectable ladies of the night, in order to make sure no unexpected guests disturbed their infiltration of the Don's.

A pale hand suddenly appeared in the doorway of the shop, beckoning him. A pretty face soon followed, with burgundy eyes winking and a sweet smile gracing, as Tifa peeked around the side of the doorjamb. "We're ready," she called.

Rude kept his face blank until she disappeared inside. Sometimes he wished Zack hadn't made his affection for Tifa quite so obvious. (It hurts too much to even pretend she is attainable.)

Glancing around once more to make sure things were safe, Rude stepped inside the shop.

.

"Ta da!" The first thing that caught his eye was Tifa striking a pose. Her long, dark hair had been woven into a braid, which circled her head like a crown. Light blue satin shimmered around her; the tank dress hugged her curves just enough to tease, while displaying little cleavage and ending sensibly, just above the knee.

"Hold still, girlie," squawked the dressmaker's daughter, who was attending to Tifa's scar with a make-up sponge.

"It's a good choice," said Rude nonchalantly. "What about Zack?"

"Oh." Tifa giggled. "_Zelda_'s doing just fine."

"No, I'm not," complained a tired-sounding falsetto voice.

"Come show Rudie how be-yoo-tiful you are!"

A scowling Zack emerged from the corner. With the help of a little padding, he had filled out a simple yellow peasant dress. Unstyled, his black hair fell into soft waves, framing his face. A bit of mascara and a touch of rouge...

Rude whistled. "Damn, you clean up _well_!"

"Shove it, shiny skull."

"Tsk, tsk. That time of the month, Z?" He cracked a small smile. "Seriously man... You've managed to look believable."

"I told you I could handle this." Tifa grinned. "I guess I know what his color is."

"Where's Jess?"

"She changed her mind about her dress..._again_."

A soft voice called out. "I'm good now. Just was worried about how bad I make this dress look, once it's on me."

She walked in from the changing room, green-blue eyes fixed on the floor, biting her lower lip. Her dark blue dress was long and elegant. A plunging neckline was made decent by a gauzy overlay. Only one syllable came to Rude's mind as he appreciated how the dress showed off her figure.

And Zack uttered it. "Wow."

"Didn't think I could do the dress this much injustice, huh?" She fidgeted nervously, a finger twirling a bit of her hair.

"Honey, you're a shoo-in!" exclaimed Tifa. "You should let your hair down more...I can't believe how full it is."

Jessie turned to Rude. "As I figured, not even a nod of approval from you."

Tifa smiled and said, "What do you expect from our resident stoic?" Grabbing "Zelda's" arm, the two of them headed out the door.

"Thank you for everything!" Jessie cheerfully shook the hands of the dressmaker and his daughter, before they gathered the discarded clothing to store in the back. "We should go now, too," she said softly.

Rude caught her arm as she turned to leave.

She glanced back at him in confusion, noting that he had removed his trademark sunglasses.

"Why have you been hiding how beautiful you are? Behind the frumpy clothes and headbands and..."

"No use competing with Tifa," she interrupted, a hidden bitterness creeping into her simple words.

"There's no contest," he said softly.

Jessie yanked her arm away. "We have a miss–"

"Zack and Tifa can handle themselves in hand-to-hand combat. If that Corneo gets you in a bad position, just be loud enough for me to hear you."

"I'll be fine." She was blushing at this bizarre outburst of warmth.

"You better be," Rude swore, replacing the sunglasses.

As the two of them walked out the door, Jessie wondered what "that Corneo" was like. (I hope we realize what we're getting ourselves into.)

* * * * * *

"Hands up in the air, come out of there slowly." Tseng pointed a pistol at the red-headed stowaway.

"Daddy!" exclaimed Raieyana.

"I want to know how much and what you heard," Tseng said calmly to Reno.

"Enough to know you had an innocent girl abducted," he sneered. "If I didn't already have Shinra business, I'd take _you_ out."

"I doubt it." The ex-Turk was calm. "You're untrained and very rough around the edges. Ray could take you."

"I don't want to." The girl crossed her arms. "He has a right to be angry if his friend was traded in for me."

"This is not the time nor the place." Tseng lowered his weapon slightly. "I am presumably under their protection, and we are just outside the tightest security prison in the world."

"Is that where they took Aeris?" asked Reno.

"Presumably, she's in a science lab."

"Bastards," he muttered.

"I am no Shinraphile at the moment, either. Care to catch a ride back with us? Tell us your story, perhaps?"

Raieyana's face brightened. "That would be cool."

"I think you could help us," said Reno, "but I have to get her back."

"I want to go too!"

Tseng's eyes widened. "No, Raieyana."

"How can you ask me to trade her freedom for mine?"

His voice was stern. "I never asked."

"You can't force me. Give me the gun and I'll go in with him." Father and daughter stood eye-to-eye.

"I'm not giving you the gun." He stepped to the Gelnika and grabbed an exquisite staff from inside.

She took her weapon gratefully. "Thanks, Dad."

"Come back safe." His voice wavered on the last word, but Tseng shook the emotion off. "I'm going to have to leave when those Soldiers return..."

"When we finish, sir, I'll escort her home," Reno promised. (What am I getting myself into?)

"Home is on the completed portion of Upper Junon." He swallowed and handed Reno a plastic card. "This will allow you two access to the elevators within the building. You should get inside before those men return to fly the Gel back."

Reno nodded and headed to the entrance. Quickly wrapping her arms around her father, Raieyana whispered "love you" before trotting off after him.

Tseng slowly entered the aircraft, preparing himself for a departure exactly the same as his arrival. Alone.

* * * * * *

"Our informant said that the headquarters of the terrorists was located under Sector 7."

"What exactly does that mean, Mr. Jordan?" President Shinra folded his hands on his desk.

"Basically, it means what it says," said Reeve, smoothing back his dark hair. "Now all we have to do is place posters around the village, offering a reward for the capture of–"

A feminine laugh drifted into the board room.

"Now, now, it isn't nice to mock the new executive," chided the president.

"I just wonder how he got to _be_ an executive." The woman smiled softly and entered the meeting. She was rather plain, with mousy brown hair, and dressed in a conservative suit.

"He was top of his class, the first year of graduates from our Junon Academy. He did well here...and we need fresh blood to head urban development here in Midgar."

"I suppose promotion has to be harder than it was in my time."

"She's been here since right after the war," the president explained to Reeve. "This is Renee Scarlet, head of our Defense Department."

She held her hand out to the young businessman, who shook it cordially.

"This is Reeve Jordan." The president smiled. "He found a source...that says our enemy is holed up in the slums beneath Sector 7."

"If we weren't so backlogged with construction in that area, I'd say drop the plate, blame it on them, and be done with the whole mess."

Reeve gasped.

Scarlet laughed again and rested a hand on his shoulder. "He's definitely still wet behind the ears. Which gives me an idea..."

The president leaned forward eagerly.

An odd titter escaped from her lips. "Kya ha ha... Well, actually, I've had it up in my mind ever since _my_ agent told _me_ the location of the terrorists..."


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

.

Aeris sat on her cot, swinging her legs back and forth a bit. She fidgeted, restless and uncomfortable. She had tried to block out the memories of her times in the Shinra lab with her mother. But even if she was successful, that in itself couldn't quiet the feeling of dread slowly growing inside her.

She remembered a greasy looking man, his hair pulled back into a tangled mockery of a ponytail. Poking, prodding, and bizarre questions remained locked in the deeper realms of her memory; a few broke free as Aeris sat in the cold white cell.

.

"_What does the Planet tell you about the Promised Land?"_

_The little girl crossed her arms stubbornly. "Nothing."_

"_Gast's brat," he muttered as he shook her a little. "Doesn't matter, soon I will have Cetra that listen to me."_

"_Why would anyone listen to you?" Aeris sassed._

"_You would," he threatened, "or I will have no use for keeping you alive."_

_The five-year-old whimpered._

"_Hojo." A voice came in from the doorway. A silver eyebrow was raised. "Still terrorizing small children, I see," mocked the teenage boy in the doorway._

"_It hasn't seemed to hurt you in any way, has it, __lieutenant__?" The sloppy man took his hands from Aeris' shoulders. "It's good to see you on time for your treatments, Sephiroth, instead of hiding like a sniveling little boy."_

"_Make it quick, old man, the longer I'm away from the front, the longer until my __next__ promotion."_

"_You'll be general in no time," remarked Hojo with a bizarre, mirthful glee._

_As the mad scientist rushed out the door, two pairs of green eyes locked. Bright, glowing fierceness met serenity and innocence...and flashed empathy, for a moment. Then the metallic door slid shut between them, and Aeris was alone in her cell again._

.

Aeris shook her head. Things were different now. Though Shinra still held its dark plans, the scientist in charge seemed like a nice woman. Her cell was better than a room in any inn she'd seen, except for that whole locked-in thing.

There were even glass windows, one looking outside and one looking into the hallway. Though that one was mostly for observation, she could close the curtain at night. Besides, looking out into the hallway made her feel less isolated.

Most of the staff didn't even pay heed to the cell windows as they passed down the specimen hallway. For some odd reason today, however, she got the feeling she was being watched. Peering out, she noticed a glint of green, glowing in the shadows. As she met these eyes, whoever was lurking turned and walked away, but she did catch one last glimpse of _something_...

A flash of silver.

* * * * * *

Shera Baker shook her specimen tubes and watched as the dark purple chemical disappeared. Sighing impatiently, she put the tube back under the burette and continued the titration.

"Dr. Baker."

Startled, the timid woman jumped a bit, upsetting the contents of the tube all over her lab table. With a dagger-filled glare, she turned to the intruder. "You know, since all you are is a little messenger boy, you should learn not to sneak up on people. It could cost you your job, after all."

Rufus Shinra smirked. "Right." He looked at her with an amused look in his eyes. "Are you busy?"

"I'm always busy, Mr. Shinra. It's called working."

"The executive board was surprised that you were absent from the meeting last night. You were supposed to give a report on that Ancient."

"Yes, well, I doubt Professor Hojo had the opportunity to get his files in order before his sudden..._departure_. I had to spend a considerable amount of time to even find the girl's old file, which was pretty sparse at that, so I have been in here running tests ever since..."

"You seem to be missing the point." He shook his head. "You didn't report at the meeting and that is a considerable offens–"

"Look, boy. Does your father's board want to know about the Ancient or not? I did the company more service by looking for information than I would have by wasting time, just to tell them I didn't have any."

"Well...maybe, someday, they'll be appreciative. However, your instructions have now changed. We want an Ancient that can withstand grueling tests. You are to combine the Ancient's genetic code with that of Specimen..." He grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket. "812-A."

Shera's eyes widened in surprise. "But, I don't even think I can do that. There are an unequal number of chromosomes..."

"The executive board doesn't entirely know if you can accomplish that. But they have a _suggestion_ for what you should do in the meantime, while you're figuring out solutions to the chromosomal difference."

She sighed. (Using suggestion as a euphemism for order is getting really old.) "And what is their _suggestion_?"

"To perhaps put the two of them together and see if nature can work itself out. You've said yourself that you don't know the capabilities of either species yet." Rufus walked out the door, a self-satisfied grin plastered on his face.

Shinra's Head of Science sank slowly down onto the nearest chair, a feeling of queasiness deep in her stomach. She'd gotten flack for being more tenderhearted than her predecessor. But the pristine lab technique that had gotten her removed from her hometown of Nibelheim by the Shinra in the first place had kept her in a position of stability, where her job and her life were concerned.

Shera just didn't know how many more of the company's twisted ideas she could take. Both of the specimens involved her were sentient beings. (They wouldn't just...) She wondered if they would be tortured into submission, or drugged...or... She shook her head and walked to the fridge. Removing two DNA samples, she began to prepare slides.

She would do everything in her power to provide Shinra what they wanted, without torturing the poor prisoners in the lab more than they already had been.

* * * * * *

"Hmm." The gaunt blond man paced in front of the three "women" in his office.

Tifa had been quite surprised when she first saw Don Corneo. She couldn't believe that such a timid little guy had been able to make a fortune for himself in a place like Wall Market.

"How old are you?" he asked her.

Her burgundy eyes widened a bit in surprise. She had been expecting ogling, or a more superficial selection process. "Twenty," she said softly.

He nodded a bit and then turned his attention to Jessie, her eyes timidly set on the floor. "What are your hobbies?"

She giggled a bit. "I like computers and...shiny electronic things, basically."

He looked Zack over. "Do you like animals?"

Zack shook his head, his chin-length black hair bobbing back and forth gently. "Can we cut to the chase here? I mean you're not picking a bride here and now, right? So just pick a girl to take out. Y'know, seize the day and all that."

Don Corneo's eyes widened a bit and he thought to himself. "I think you may have something there. What a nice saying." He nodded a bit. "Yes, I've made my decision. I will take you, since you seem to have a good head on your shoulders...oh, what is your name, miss?"

"That's Zelda," Tifa piped up before Zack could shush her.

"What an unusual name..." He looked up. "Are you three all friends then?"

"We're terrible rivals," said Jessie with a smirk.

His brow furrowed. "I hope this doesn't sound insulting, but may I invite all of you to dinner with me? I don't want to choose a candidate for my bride over something as superficial as looks and attitude."

The three of them looked at each other incredulously. They hadn't been expecting something as easy as a three-way ambush, that was for sure.

"I don't mind," Tifa said cheerfully.

Jessie quickly added, "Me either."

"Right this way, then, ladies," said the Don, and he led them to the dining hall.

.

The soup was delicious, so was the roasted meat. The four happy diners waited impatiently for the dessert course.

"We should make our move now," Tifa whispered to Jessie.

She nodded, and then glanced at Zack, who nodded in return.

The two girls jumped up and blockaded the two exits from the dining room.

"What are you doing?" asked Don Corneo, confused.

Zack stood up. "We'll be asking the questions now," he said, letting his voice fall back to its usual baritone.

The thin man's eyes widened. "You–You're a man?!"

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head. "Yeah. It kinda sucks when you've only got two chicks in the group and the local lech wants three bridal candidates."

"I'm not a–"

Jessie cut him off. "We know. We thank you for your hospitality. However, we have some important business at hand, and we need some information."

"You all are from that terrorist group that's been blowing up the reactors, aren't you?" He looked up at them in fear.

"We don't want to hurt anyone, especially someone coming from the same place we are..." Tifa began.

"Hold it." Zack walked over to the Don. "This guy has been taking advantage of this sector ever since it was built ten years ago. He probably deserves our revenge more than some of those guards in that reactor we took out."

"N–n–no," Corneo protested, "I have a confession to make."

The three looked at him.

"My brother started this whole operation. He retired two years ago and let me take over for him. He said we needed to keep things in the family, y'know? But my dad always taught me I needed to respect women. If I'd have known what business my bro was _really_ dealing in, then..."

"So why keep it up then?" Jessie asked. "You have the power to stop it, even if it's not your fault you were here in the first place."

"Because if the business slips, he'll give it to our cousin, Joe. And that man treats women like shit. Even if they're being used and selling their bodies, at least I can make sure they're being respected."

"Great story." Zack rolled his eyes. "We really have business with you though, Corneo. What the hell did you tell those Shinra assholes?"

"Shinra? I don't have any association with Shinra, besides some of my customers."

"Don't hold back from us," Tifa demanded. "We know that you were questioned by them."

"Well, they asked for your whereabouts...but I had no idea where you guys were from. They went to Neo down at the used weapons store though, I think. He'd always bragged about knowing you guys personally. So, I sent the guys over there." Corneo swallowed. "You guys ain't from around here, are ya? Because they mentioned something...the guys from Shinra said if I knew your location, they'd spare me and my business, even if they were in Sector 6."

"Sounds like the Shinra are planning to raze whichever section we end up occupying." A look of fear crossed Jessie's face. "We have to get back to the bar and warn the neighborhood."

"It's not here, is it?" Corneo trembled.

"You're safe." Tifa bit her lip. "But I'm not sure if Sector 7 is."

"You guys can go right out, I don't need to stop you. You need to protect all those innocent people."

Zack nodded. "Look, thanks Corneo. Sorry I wasn't the nice little girl you hoped I was."

As the three of them rushed out the door, Don Corneo pushed a button on his intercom. "Send in the next three," he said with a sigh.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

.

"Sir."

Sephiroth nodded to his two men, who were seated at a table, their trays spread out in front of them. Dourly, he made his way into the cafeteria line, picking up the daily special. He really had no concern over what he ate, as long as he ended up eating something before the day was out.

The Turks were a small, elite group that Sephiroth had been told he should be grateful to be in command of, after the way things had gotten botched up in the war. The job description was scouting out Soldier candidates, but they were really the jacks-of-all-trades for Shinra, Inc.

Sephiroth walked over to his men, holding some sort of noodle and vegetable concoction. He sat down silently and began to eat.

"How'd the mission go last night, sir?" asked the rotund man to his left.

He raised a silver eyebrow. Usually his men were too awestruck to make a noise in his presence, let alone inquire about anything. He swallowed his food. "It was successful," he said cautiously.

"Was it that Ancient girl Amine'd been looking for?"

Sephiroth turned his attention to the man seated across from him. (Johnny.) He coolly appraised the curiosity on the man's face. "As far as I know, that is correct." He brought another bite of food to his mouth and continued to eat.

"See, Wedge, man...your boy Biggs must've been right then."

"But that's so psycho, Johnny!" He shook his head. "I'm not the smartest guy out there, but that little breeding plan just plain _sounds _unscientific!"

Mako eyes watched this exchange with a twinge of inquisitiveness.

"Man, he said he overheard some of the execs...talking about goin' over Dr. Baker's head and putting that girl together with that...beast."

Sephiroth's brow furrowed for a moment. (The Ancient...and a _beast_?) He shook his head. (It is no concern of mine.)

Johnny pointed to their commander. "Look, even this ol' icicle finds the idea disturbing."

"Am I being judged now?" He tossed back his silver hair. "The Science Department is no concern of ours. Especially a simple experiment such as testing how two relatively unknown organisms interact with each other."

"Interaction? No, sir." Wedge was careful to keep his tone respectful. "I heard they want to make them mate."

He blinked a couple times, suppressing the twinge of shock he felt inside of him. (Makes one wonder how many of Hojo's twisted schemes were actually conceived in that fool head of his...and how many came from a source up higher. They manage to get a scientist with a slight amount of compassion...and they ignore her opinions.) Sephiroth slammed a fist on the table.

"Sir–"

"I _said_ it was no concern of ours." Dropping his fork onto the table, he rose, disgusted, and stormed out of the cafeteria, leaving his half-eaten dish.

A bit of hushed silence hung around the two Turks for a moment.

Johnny spoke up. "...you know, Wedge, I don't think we're going to get that raise."

* * * * * *

"_They're going to seal the sector off..."_

All Rude knew were the words they'd heard from the weapons dealer in Wall Market.

"_It's only temporary, son, we'll be up on that plate they're building as soon as we get on our feet again."_

Why were the words of his mother coming in suddenly to haunt him? He'd spent his childhood in the slums, and he'd spent his life there as an adult. There had been many times he'd wished that the entire plate would just fall down and crush him where he stood. Where he walked, where he ate, slept, breathed, dreamed, and where his hope had died, long ago.

Tifa stumbled and fell behind him. He heard Zack call out to him, but those words weren't audible.

"Rude..." Jessie just broke in, barely, but it didn't matter.

"We're gonna run out of time." And he ran, not heeding whether he was alone or who he was leaving behind him. All he knew was that if he didn't get there in time to stop things, one of his wishes would come true.

He didn't want that, not anymore.

He wanted to save the slums, save Midgar, save its soul. He wanted to save his own soul. Rude just wanted to take the little children, bring them up above their positions. He wanted to show the kids the sunlight, watch them run and play, breathe clean air, and have a future.

(I'm not sure where I went wrong, I only know that something inside died a long, long time ago. I know I ran, I tried to hide, but I still hear that voice streaming in over the radio. And though the times have changed, there lies a light inside with hope to rise.)

"_He's dead," she cried._

(Oh ma, I tried. But one little boy just can't avoid the strength and rage of those of age. The fascist man, he ruled with fear, his speeches ring still in my ear. But all I know is I can't let it happen again. Innocence should never go where I have been.)

.

"_They were going to seal the sector off...and break a water main. Every living thing inside that place will drown."_

Rude ran and never looked back. Perhaps there was a way for the man in the present to redeem the child he had been. The Shinra troops had shot his father in front of him, inches from his face. (I was helpless then, but this is now. And I will do as much as my fate will allow.)

* * * * * *

"This place is spooky as hell."

Raieyana looked back at Reno. "Yep," she said, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"You seem quite tense."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that returning to a place where I'd been imprisoned to rescue a mother I've never met isn't exactly a trip to the spa." She rolled her eyes. "Not like you'd understand."

"Of course I do. I bear no love for the Shinra. You know they put me in jail for five years because I tried to keep their macho troops from gang-raping a girl in the slums? I got assault on the Soldiers."

"What?" She looked at him in shock.

"Yeah. They paid the victim off. Either that or threatened her family. Whatever screwy dealings went on, the result was a sixteen-year-old kid locked up and praying to any deity willing to listen that he wouldn't drop the soap."

The girl was silent. Checking for guards, she ran quickly across the hallway to the stairwell. She turned back and gave Reno the go-ahead.

"I'm not implying you've had it easy, sister," he whispered. "Just don't go thinking because I'm a free man now, that doesn't mean I haven't had my share of rough times."

"I was born here," she said softly. "My father smuggled me out of here when I was small, and left his job here. They've been going easy on him, but whenever they want to get him to do what they want...they mention me and he's theirs." The look in Raieyana's eyes was fierce. "If I can get my hands on any of these guys, they'll stop all that crap."

"So are you strong, honey?"

"Being born as a lab rat has its advantages."

Reno just shook his head and slid the keycard through the reader. Instantly, the door to the next floor slid open. "After you."

"Good idea. I _do_ know where we're going after all." The pair walked past row upon row of observation cells, some empty, some inhabited. There were very few human-looking specimens; most were better categorized as animal: beasts or monsters.

Reno paused before a special, domed structure and peered in the window. "Geez, this is sure disgusting." Inside lay a slimy looking creature, curled into the fetal position. The form was vaguely humanoid; the face was formed into what resembled feminine features, and the body was curvy in figure...voluptuous breasts led down to a slim waist, flaring into wide hips, purple skin aside.

Raieyana glanced that the structure knowingly. "You're looking at Jenova, aren't you?"

"Yeah...what the hell–"

She shook her head. "I'm not quite sure. They've always been rather secretive about this being. My father said they've had it in containment here about as long as he can remember. He mentioned something about Hojo thinking it was an Ancient...but..."

"Aeris looks a hell of a lot better than _that_ thing!"

She nodded. "Yeah. Somehow, I doubt that he was right in that assumption. Any Ancient I've ever heard about looked human. Not purple and slimy. Unless it's a coming of age thing I've yet to experience."

"That's right...I keep forgetting that you're–"

She cut in. "I found a chart. They're keeping her in cell 43B. We should be able to break in with the keycard. Then the real adventure begins."

They walked down the corridor. "Actually making it _out_ of here in one...er...three pieces?"

The girl giggled. "Glad to hear there won't be an orgy." She paused in front of a doorway. An interior curtain was drawn over the observation window. "Funny. She'd get hell if they caught her with that curtain closed during the day."

Reno slid the card through the reader. A chipper beep emitted from the console, and a light above the door controls changed from red to green.

Grinning, Raieyana pushed the button to open the door. With a near-silent "whoosh," it slid open and the duo was granted access to the holding cell.

As they stepped inside, they were immediately consumed by surprise. "Wha–"

Raieyana simply gasped in amazement.

.

The cell was completely empty.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

.

"No." A simple gasping word breathed in defeat. Cold steel gave a salutation that invited despair. Desperate fists pounded on the sealed doorway. "There's gotta be another way in." Rude leaped up the piles of debris alongside it.

"I don't think that's a good idea," said a soft voice.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do? Just sit and watch and wait until the bloated corpses reach the top?" One leg slipped out from under him as he lost his footing. "Goddamn," he muttered.

"Rude!" Jessie looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "I'm not saying that I want to do nothing. I just can't see anything we can do. It's already been sealed. Even...even if you managed to pry those doors open for a second...they'd close right behind you. You'd just be another mark on the body count."

He ascended a bit more, approaching a dead end. "There's gotta be a way to break the seal or something..."

"What if you ended up flooding the rest of the slums then, and not just one sector?"

"Jess...I can't let them destroy my home. Not now. Not like this." He slammed a fist against the concrete barrier.

"You're not letting them. You won't _let_ them. Do you think that we can ever possibly stop our battle with them now, after this? They might think we'd die that easily, but they're only giving us more resolve to fight. Maybe, in some way, us two...growing up in the slums, have been fighting other people's battles. It's easy to see now that Shinra will not stop at destroying their own customers to make sure they end up on top. Everyone will see now..."

He slowly slid back to the dirt. Shaking his head, he leaned down and rested it in his hands. "Of course it won't be that easy. Jessie...can't you see...they'll blame this on us."

She bit her lip, looking up...up to the steel plating and supports a few hundred feet above them. "You know what Mako really is, right?" She glanced over at him. "I ran into a Cetra information database the last time I hacked into the Shinra computer system..."

"Psycho radioactive shit, right? That's how it powers the reactors. And that's why it's better than coal."

"They say the Ancients called it 'Lifestream.' It was the life force...the energy running throughout all living things on this Planet. Now, Shinra is sucking it out by the ton. What if it runs out?"

"That ain't gonna happen. Shinra will run out first," Rude swore.

"They're not just destroying Sector 7. They've begun to destroy the world," Jessie murmured.

.

Suddenly, the roar of a chopper overhead broke the eerie silence surrounding the pair. The helicopter was a deep blue in color, denoting its owners, the Turks. A pudgy man sat at the controls, and a slimmer, red-haired man dropped down to the ground in front of them.

"So, you've come to mourn the people you killed, terrorists?" he sneered.

Rude scowled at him. "Isn't it the other way around, Johnny? As I recall, I'm not the one who abandoned my family the second an evil corporation offered me a life of slime."

"You're just jealous that I'm good enough to be a Turk."

"Nah. I'm happy to know I turned down the job before you got it. Because that means I can take you on."

"Any day." Johnny laughed. "See, I'm just here checking up on the troops' work. We sent the Soldiers in to seal everything off. Didn't know we'd find the people responsible for this atrocity sitting at the threshold."

"We're not responsible!" Jessie walked over, her hands on her hips. "Who's sealing a village off? Who's filling it with water?"

"Who were they trying to catch in this little trap?" He rubbed his hands together. "Oh well, at least I'm the one who'll have the privilege of bringing in the _dastardly_ criminals."

There was a loud noise resonating off the metal surrounding the group, as Rude's fist connected with Johnny's face. "You only have two privileges. Either stopping this sadistic shitting mess or dying slowly and painfully." He rammed his knee up into the Turk's groin.

The other man doubled over in agony. He managed to signal with his hand, and two men slid quickly and gracefully down on ropes. "Can you take on a Turk and two First-Class men?" Johnny laughed.

The dark-haired one pulled out a huge sword, while the other, fair-haired one pulled out a pair of katana. They would have seemed formidable if the blonde's shoulder hadn't suddenly erupted into a mess of blood.

Jessie raised an eyebrow over her shiny pistol. "Come on, Turk. We gotta level the playing field and play fair, don't we?"

The man with the sword ran straight for Rude, aiming to slash out his throat. Ducking and pulling out his nunchaku, Rude parried away the furious blows. Suddenly, a burst of lightning appeared out of thin air and the Soldier was on fire.

"Did I miss the start of the party?" Zack had a smug grin on his face as he held up his broad sword, prepared for attack. Several glowing orbs could be seen in the hilt. Tifa stood just behind him, poised for battle.

Johnny jumped up and grabbed hold of one of the ropes. The helicopter took off immediately, raising the Turk high up in the air. "Have fun watching your friends die on television! Next time we meet, you'll have to deal with Sephiroth!" The chopper soon became a blue smudge in the distance.

The group of four finished off the two Soldiers with ease.

"They must've really thought we were rag-tag, sending those buffoons after us," Zack said thoughtfully. "Imagine if we had Reno, too. We'd probably have gotten the helicopter."

Tifa looked at the steel door mournfully. "We're too late to do a thing."

"Apparently the water main controls for each sector are contained in their respective sectors. We can't get in...so we can't stop them from pressurizing it to the bursting point." Jessie sat down in the dirt next to Rude.

"We can't stay in Midgar any longer," Zack declared. "Even if we can hide, we can't risk letting something as horrible as this happen anywhere else."

"How the hell can we fight Shinra if we leave? This is where the battle is, and we can't just give the fuck up now! Hell no!" Rude looked up at him in fury.

"Shinra exists outside of Midgar, you know. Just because you've never left this place doesn't mean that the rest of the world doesn't exist, Rudie baby."

"Guys. We can't get mad at each other. Not now, we have to stick together." Jessie put her hand gently on Rude's shoulder. "We could do a lot of damage in Junon. They haven't finished that city at all. Imagine the setbacks."

"There is a reactor in my hometown," Tifa said suddenly. "It's in the Nibel Mountains. It was the Mako reactor prototype."

"Why didn't you mention this before?" Zack asked.

"I've said, many times, I have my own personal reasons for a mission against the Shinra. They're still personal," she replied coldly.

Rude stood up, brushing himself off. He reached back and politely helped Jessie to her feet. "There's a door to the outside somewhere in this sector. We can probably bust or hack through it...but there won't be any coming back."

"Yes there will." Zack slung an arm around his shoulder. "And when that happens, those assholes won't know what the hell hit them."

"We'll rise again..." Jessie murmured. She glanced up at them. "We are Phoenix."

* * * * * *

Sephiroth clamped a gloved hand over the mouth of his companion, who squirmed in uncomfortable protest. With a strong tug, he pulled both of them into an empty surveillance room and locked the door.

The brown-haired girl shook her head in protest. "I don't know what the hell you think you're doing..." she began.

"I certainly know what I am doing. Saving you from a fate worse than death," he replied coldly. "Do not make me regret my decision. I would have to simply drag you back to your cell, and you count the minutes until you are enclosed with a beast. Maybe it's better that way. You can reflect on your foolishness as the creature is rutting you."

"You're disgusting. And completely wrong. Maybe the guy who used to be here would have enjoyed subjecting me to that, but Dr. Baker seems to actually be a human being."

"You think the belief of one person can save you from the desires of the executive council?" A bitter laugh escaped from the man's lips. "You remind me of Gast. But the fact that you and I stand as we are now is proof enough that Shinra finds way to subject anyone they wish to their every whim."

"You captured me just yesterday. Why would you be helping me escape?"

"I have my job, Ancient. Just because that Amine never fulfilled his mission does not mean I would deter my own. However, even someone like me has a line in the sand." Sephiroth peered at the monitors in front of him. "I am going to find us a clear route to the helipad, and then we shall depart. I will take you to a place far from here. If you know what's good for you, you will make efforts to change your appearance, and take on a new name and trade."

"What about you?" Aeris asked.

"I have clearance to come and go as I please. There are perks to being commander of the Turks, you know."

"But how can you continue to work for people so corrupt as these?"

He waved a hand. "It's a living."

"There are other ways, you know."

Grabbing her arm fiercely, he drew her closer to him. "Not for me," he said severely. "Now if you don't mind, let us forego the idle chitchat so I can help you avoid being raped in the lab." With a bit of force, he yanked her back into the hallway.

.

Suddenly, red lights began flashing in the corridor. A computerized voice came over the intercom. "_Red Alert, Red Alert. Code Four-Seven-Alpha-Blue. All high security are to report to the Executive Chambers immediately. Repeat, Code Four-Seven-Alpha-Blue. This is a Red Alert. All high security are to report to the Executive Chambers immediately._"

Sephiroth shook his fist in frustration. "Damnation," he muttered under his breath. He analyzed his companion with a scrutinizing eye. "Do as I say. We are going to change your appearance."

Gazing intently into the strong glow of his Mako eyes, Aeris nodded meekly.

"Discard the jacket." As she did so, he continued his inspection. "Let your hair down."

After she untied the ribbons, a cascade of brown hair tumbled down her back in loose waves. She shook her head a bit, getting rid of the last few kinks of the braid.

"One last thing. Excuse me for the liberty I am about to take." He drew his Masamune and carefully made a horizontal slash in the skirt of her long pink dress. Reaching down, he yanked at the material.

Aeris gasped as she realized that he had torn off the bottom of her skirt. While it had left a fairly even hem, the length was a bit shorter. As in from mid-ankle to mid-thigh shorter. "Why you–"

"I am saving you, remember? You may call me 'savior.'" He grabbed her arm again. "We are going upstairs. The president is in extreme danger."

* * * * * *

"_Code Four-Seven-Alpha-Blue. All high security are to report to the Executive Chambers immediately._"

Raieyana glanced up at Reno. They were standing in the stairwell, plotting their next move. (Executive Chambers...the president!) "Hey! That alert...the president must be in danger."

"What sort of powers do the Ancients have? Enough to try and gain the edge over the president of Shinra?"

"I'm not quite sure. But if that Aeris can do half the stuff I can do...I bet she'd try her damnedest."

"Kinda makes you wonder how she got out, doesn't it?"

"Who cares?" The girl grinned. "Less work for us, isn't it? Besides, one more person who can help us get the hell out of here."

"So wait...are you suggesting that we go up there and throw ourselves into a fray against top Shinra security? Off the president if at all possible?"

"Of course. I never spoke lightly when I told you that I intend to sever any leverage the Shinra may have with my father." She looked him over. "You think you're up to it, terrorist boy?"

Reno stepped over and looked her directly in the eye. "Better watch who you're calling boy, kid."

Raieyana simply raised an eyebrow. "You still didn't answer my question."

He leaned over, pausing for effect, before speaking softly into her ear. "If you can manage to just keep yourself alive, I'll be ecstatically shoving a blade in the old man's back myself. Honey."

She flashed him a brief smile. "You'll have to beat me to it." Turning, she began to run up the stairs, her destination being the top floor, of course.

(Kid's got spunk.) Reno shook himself a bit, before turning towards the stairs and following suit.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

.

Ice blue eyes peered at the images broadcast over the security monitors. Glancing at the penthouse screen, he grinned, admiring his handiwork.

_But that is not why you came._

He shook his head. (Of course it is. I am here to get revenge on all of them. Shinra scum. Scum needs to be wiped clean.)

_Grim and dirt will float away any time you swipe at it with a sponge. Blood stains._

(Blood.)

_Whose blood do they have on their hands?_

(My blood...countless others'...)

_**No. Whose blood do they have on their hands?**_

The simple insistence had slowly piqued into sheer fury. The blonde-haired man held his head in his hands, lightly swaying to and fro. His eyes opened from force of will. "Yours!" he half-screamed. A slight whimper of pain escaped from his lips. (Take away the light. I know what the important thing is now.)

_So what is your next step, beloved?_

The slender, graceful muscles in his back rippled as he unwittingly performed faux swipes with his sword. Suddenly he stopped, a part of his mind apparently shattering. Glowing Mako eyes fixed on one monitor, that of a stairwell. A slender, rather beautiful young woman, brown hair, green eyes of immense depth, clad in pink...was not where his attention was drawn. Next to her walked pure stoicism. Trained to kill, and not be killed, the man moved with a deadly silent grace. Silver hair cascaded down his back smoothly and cleanly, as if nothing surrounding such a man would dare to be out of order.

One hand, dressed in a fingerless glove, dared to reach up to the screen. The man's upper lip twitched as he lovingly stroked the image displayed in front of him. "Death is too quick for the likes of you," he murmured, unconsciously caressing a long purple scar on the left side of his face.

_**... ... ...**_

Suddenly, he snapped to attention, eyes blankly staring at something unseen to a normal mind.

_Come my sweet. Save me from the bloodshed._

Mindlessly and soundlessly, he left the small room in half-trance, making his way to the lab. To a specimen.

The room itself bore no memory of his fleeting presence, save for the bloody handprint left on one of the monitors.

* * * * * *

He first saw blood the instant he opened the door at the top of the stairwell. It had already seeped into the carpet, leaving a red tattoo as a permanent reminder. Never giving a moment of his own to the irrational feelings of fear or squeamishness, Sephiroth reached down, baring his hand, and feeling the woven fibers. "It is still damp, but already cool," he stated, more to himself than to his companion.

"So, how old would it be then?" Aeris asked, a hint of fear tainting her normally docile tones.

"At least an hour. Maybe more. Whomever set off the alarm did so after this blood was spilled." He turned and strode forcefully towards the entrance of the President's office.

"Wait..." she mumbled, as she stared wide-eyed at the crimson substance seeping below the door, already beginning to clot a bit.

"You can wait and see if you meet the cause out there." Sephiroth's voice was flat and cold.

The flower girl bit her lip and glanced around at the eerie peace of the hallway. Hopping forward a bit, she latched herself onto the arm of her distant companion. "You'll be able to protect me, right?" The fright within her eyes was only partially hidden by the reserve she'd struggled to hold onto.

"Whatever bled in here is long dead, so I think I can handle one ward." He slid a keycard through its slot and the door slid open quietly. "Come." He half-pulled his new pink-clad appendage into the room.

"What in the Planet!" Aeris exclaimed. The contents of her stomach already beginning to lurch forward, she turned her head from the gruesome scene before her. (That...that was the President.)

Sephiroth appraised the situation with a calm eye. "I saw much worse in the war," he said softly, as if words such as those could possibly comfort the reasonably sheltered girl. A large, thin sword–akin to the one he wielded himself, come to think of it–had been thrust into the former residence of Maximilian Shinra's soul. (If such scum even had a soul...but what is a soul anyway? Just a promise of eternal existence muttered by the weak-willed.)

The late president of Shinra had not left his plane of existence easily. Blood still oozed from the stiffening corpse, slowly, and dull red in color. (Not that the man had much oxygen going to the brain when he was alive.) As Sephiroth continued his perusal, he noticed many shallow, long cuts all along the body. (Hands tied behind the back...head lying in a pool of vomit...) He knew what the remnants of torture looked like, for many of his underlings had performed similar tricks. In the wild of a foreign land, half a lifetime ago...he marveled that he still could feel as if he was back there.

(The last time I saw a corpse like this...we'd just shot a prisoner. Ending his misery before the flies came to scavenge and perform the same deed, albeit much more slowly.) Slowly, though, the stench and disgusting sight eventually began to bother even the cold ex-general himself. (Oh, but look. A housefly managed to make it all the way up here despite all the health filters.) He watched the small insect dart in and out of Shinra's nostrils. (Eat up, little fella.)

"I...I feel faint." Aeris sank down to her knees.

He instantly snapped out of the macabre, slightly obsessive, observations. Eyes like Mako pools glanced over to the forgotten girl. No matter how insensitive he'd been trained to be, a slight amount of chivalry had always hung around in his soul. Perhaps just as a simple struggle to rebel from the spirit of the one who'd raised him. "I apologize. I doubt anyone is as used to bodies as I am."

She stared up at him, an expression mixed between sickness and terror. "I–I can't stay here. Take me back to the lab! Anywhere but here!"

Roughly, he grabbed her arm and wrenched her to her feet. "Can you operate a helicopter? A motorcycle? I will take you to a vehicle of your choice and give you clearance out. However, in a time such as this, my place as a member of the Turks is here. Catching whatever terrorist did such a sick deed."

However, before Aeris could manage an answer to this surprising inquiry, someone did so for her. "I feel that action may be unwise at this time."

.

Sephiroth looked at the source of the dark voice. The sight that greeted his eyes astonished even him.

Dark ebony hair partially hid a pale, milk white face. Sunken red eyes glowed out of seeming fury, not the Mako in them. Tall, thin, and clothed in a dark cape and tatters, if that were all, the man would have been forbidding. However, in place of a left arm, he possessed a golden limb, which ended in a sharp claw.

"You mean, you will add to your crime of murdering a defenseless man by attempting to butcher a helpless woman?" He drew the Masamune. "You underestimate me, monster." The last few words were spoken in a low growl.

"You are easily deceived by appearances. Just because I look like a monster, does not mean that my every deed is that of a monster." His haunting eyes glanced to the doorway. "You found the body, I see." As the other man opened his mouth to speak, the dark one raised his hand for silence. "I've been watching recent events unfold upon the monitors in this floor's security station."

Still holding the sword on the stranger, Sephiroth scowled. "Easy enough alibi. Did you see who killed the president?"

"Of course. Blonde, spiky hair, half-crazed, very violent. I know him quite well. But not as he is now."

"How is he now? Because anyone who did that horrible, horrible thing is not friend material!" Aeris piped up.

"He had good reason." The man's somber expression was sobering.

"You're both disgusting then," she hissed.

"His experiences have been disgusting. From what I know of him, the only things he knows are desperation and revenge." His eyes glanced to the Turk in front of him. "It would not be prudent for you to remain here. I expect you saw the weapon he used as well as I."

Sephiroth looked at his own weapon, the Masamune. "It looked like mine."

"The Shinra will hunt you. You only make it easier for them if you do not flee while you still can." The man turned, seemingly eager to simply walk away after having been such a good information source for them.

"Who are you?" The usually unshakable man had been quite...shaken in these past few moments.

"Someone who once failed you." Never turning around, the dark haired man disappeared around the corner of the hallway.

With Aeris footsteps behind, he turned and ran after the stranger. Rushing around the bend, he collided with someone head-on.

.

"Geez!" screamed a light, feminine voice. "Watch where you're going."

Aeris gasped. Standing, right in front of her, was Reno. On the floor sat Sephiroth and a dark-haired girl who was rubbing her head.

"You ran into me, jerk," she said lightly, laying a playful smack on the Turk's shoulder.

"So you're all right, doll, after all." Reno smirked. "We had just gone to get you and the damn cell was empty. So did ya finish off the president or did you leave a piece for us."

"He's quite dead," Sephiroth said sternly, raising himself up to his full height. "And after seeing the incompetence the two of you have for sneaking..."

The girl also stood up. "What are you talking about? I was walking nice and quiet, until you barreled into me like a pile of bricks. How'd you get past foot soldier rank with moves like that?"

Silver brows furrowed. "You did not see a man with dark hair...and a claw?"

"What, he the whodunit?" Reno leaned against the wall.

"No." He shook his head. "None of this seems to make any sense."

Aeris's eyes hadn't left the girl with Reno, though. "Who are you?" she asked softly.

"Aww, don't be jealous babe." He ran a hand through his disheveled red hair.

The girl elbowed him in the ribs. "My name is Raieyana." She paused for a moment. "Raieyana Amine."

"This was the girl you were traded in for," Reno said with a hint of anger in his voice. "And we find you running around with your _kidnapper_? And you," he pointed at the detached man in front of him, "why are you freeing your captive the day after you got her?"

A blank look. "Why did you come to rescue the lady you abandoned?"

He fumed. His hands formed into fists. "Oh where the hell do you get off, you Shinra bastard?"

Whirling around, Sephiroth began to walk away. "I am going to go examine the security monitors, and I will be escaping this building, with the ladies. If you respect my superiority, I may be persuaded to let you join us." Long hair swishing, he disappeared back around the corner.

Taken down a notch, Reno glanced at Aeris guiltily. "I didn't abandon you," he muttered before following behind.

She turned to Raieyana. "Who are you, really?"

The younger girl just smiled a bit. "When we have a moment of peace to ourselves...I'll tell you the whole story. You just have to believe me now when I say that I _am_ a friend. We should probably catch up with the others." She began to walk after the men.

Shaking herself a bit, Aeris fell into step behind the stranger. She was a tad unsettled, however, for she had seen something very surprising–and slightly frightening. (That girl...has a tattoo on the inside of her wrist. Like the old doctor's lab specimens. A blue numeral, _I_.)


	11. Part 3: Turn the Other Cheek - Chapter ...

Part 3- Turn the Other Cheek

.

Chapter 10

.

Cool, wet. Rivulets of hope humbly fell from the sky, dancing on the blades of grass, sliding gently to the brown earth below. Lower lip slightly trembling, Jessie paused where she stood, eyes closed and face upraised to greet the children of the thunderhead.

A small pool gathered on the surface of Tifa's gloved palm. Liquid freedom was gathered. "It's amazing how easy it is to forget," she said softly.

"I used to call it a nuisance." A wry grin twitched at Zack's lips.

"You're gonna get soaking wet, Jess." Rude's voice was barely above a whisper, nearly blending in with the sound of the rain.

"I have a lifetime of this to make up for." Laughing a bit, she spun around, guiding her feet to any puddle she could find. Raising her arms, she nimbly twirled, beckoning to the sky.

Running up and grabbing her friend's hand, Tifa joined in the impromptu ritual to the rain spirit. With Jessie quickly taking the lead, the two girls danced round and round, as they were showered from above.

"Whaddya say, pal?" Zack extended his hand.

Shaking his head a bit, Rude simply sent out his "don't-even-try" look.

.

An inspiring chorus of laughter rose up in the air to greet the misty clouds as they rolled down from the mountains. Water began streaming down harder now, and the group became very thankful that the small village of Kalm was within sight.

"Damn, we better pick up the pace. I don't want to get caught in a downpour," Zack declared.

The others nodded their agreement. Luckily for them, they managed to get inside the door of the inn just as the very first bolt of lightning was tossed down by the thunder god.

* * * * * *

"Gross!"

Ignoring Reno, Sephiroth continued his inspection of the monitors.

"There's blood all over the damn place," the redhead continued, ranting. "Some guy out on a whack-job is loose in this building, and you expect us to get out of here safely?"

Raieyana peered over their shoulders, on tiptoe. "Hey...there's something off in the lab."

Sure enough, there was a big, gaping, and slightly oozy hole in the side of a specimen tank. Sephiroth continued his scrutiny of the scene in front of him before sliding his hand over to punch a few buttons on the console beside him. Onscreen, the security tape rewound. Abruptly, he stopped the tape.

A figure was standing outside of the metallic dome. With a perfect imitation of the Masamune strapped to his back, a spiky-haired, slim male of medium height was hunched over.

Another click on the control pad and the tape began to play in slow motion. The man ducked behind some equipment around the corner of the corridor. Suddenly, in a burst, an explosion lit up the screen, leaving the hole that they had observed in the specimen tank.

The man leaned down with care, and he picked up something from inside. That something was glistening from a liquid-like coating, and feminine in form...

"That's that Jenova thing!" Reno exclaimed.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "How would you know of Jenova?"

"I don't know what it is, except that Raieyana an' I saw it when we were in the lab looking for Aeris."

The other man paced a bit, long silver hair swishing from side to side. "It appears the culprit here is that fair-haired man. Damn the president for disallowing cameras in his office."

"But that strange man said he watched everything happen in here," Aeris said, puzzled.

"Yes...but we would only have entrances and exits to and from the office...because the only camera is in the hallway. Enough people enter and leave to where it wouldn't be an exceptional amount of evidence. Given the man still _had_ a weapon after he left..." He nodded to himself, apparently reaching an internal decision. "The hallways are cleared. Many of the employees have gone home. I am sure many others are gathered in the president's office at this time. The code for lock-down has not been given...that is our cue to make a dash down to the helipad."

"Down?" asked Raieyana.

"You were just there, were you not?"

She shook her head a bit. "There isn't one on the roof of the building? That would be the fastest way."

"It would also be the first place to look."

"But..." She exhaled in frustration. "The longer it takes, the better the chance we'll be found, regardless of _where_ we happen to be at the time!" Her small hands balled into fists.

"I do not have the time to argue this with a child!" Sephiroth whirled around and strode towards the door, grabbing Aeris' arm on his way to the exit. "I've no reason to concern myself with you and your criminal friend, anyway. Do as you please."

"Hold up!" Reno moved to block his path. "You know that if we're seen with you, we at least have a chance of making it past security. Alone, we'll just be blamed for that body up there. Besides, you had one of these girls brought in for the other. Now you're responsible for both."

"She had her chance to leave."

"I was only trying to do what you are." Raieyana's eyes glowed fiercely. "We've got to stick in this together. You're the one that got us all into this mess in the first place!"

"I was only doing my–"

She broke in. "Well, maybe you should actually do something having to do with 'security' for once. Keep the rest of us safe from the jerk-offs that hired you."

Reluctantly, the foursome headed towards the helipad located five floors beneath them.

.

Swiftly, he unlocked the cockpit door and swung it open. "In." Sephiroth gestured to the tiny interior of the blue helicopter.

Aeris swung her arms back and forth a little, in an attempt to gain momentum, then hopped inside–just barely.

"Great work, ol' metal head." Reno hoisted himself up with ease, then glanced back.

"I sense something off. Getting here was too easy," said Sephiroth.

Raieyana had her eyes directed on him, watching his every movement with concentration. She had both feet planted firmly on the floor.

"Hey." Reno leaned over and waved a hand in front of her eyes.

His only response was a glare.

"Need help?"

She looked at his outstretched hand with scorn. "Of course I don't–"

Sephiroth broke in. "Well...if you don't get in soon, I shall have to throw you inside."

Stamping her foot in fury, she stepped closer to the doorway, gingerly placing her hand in Reno's.

He yanked her up so hard, the force almost propelled her forward into the side of the helicopter. (Oh shit.) "Whoops," he said sheepishly, effectively catching her in his free arm. "Sorry about that."

"Oh, are you?" she demanded.

He shrugged a bit. "Maybe not," he said, lowering his voice, before giving her a quick smack on the behind.

Her eyes widened in shock. "Why you–"

"If you are done disgusting the women, Red, I suggest you sit down before my take-off throws you there." The Turk turned to the control console, starting up the engine.

"Not like we wouldn't love to see that," Raieyana muttered before carefully sitting down on the floor.

"Aren't they both _terrible_?" whispered Aeris sympathetically.

Propellers whirring noisily, the helicopter lifted off the Shinra building and began ascending over the city. In spite of himself, Reno couldn't help kneeling to look out the window. (The city almost looks...beautiful from this height.) The only time he had been away from Midgar was his stint in jail, and the trip there wasn't exactly what one would call scenic.

A voice blared over the two-way radio. _"This is Midgar Air Traffic Control. Please state your business and destination."_

The two girls exchanged nervous looks at this. Reno was still enthralled by the sights, nose pressed to the window like a child.

Sephiroth cleared his throat, then picked up the receiver, pressing the button for transmission. "Shinra security mission deployment to the city of Junon."

"_A security clearance code is required for that destination."_

"Five-Beta-Epsilon-Nine-Oh-Three."

There was a pause. The static hiss coming in through the speakers was a bit unsettling.

"_Junon_?" Reno hissed. "When did we discuss going to _Junon_?"

"Hey," Raieyana poked him in the arm. "You told my father you were bringing me home after this."

"Well if the Shinra is looking for us all, why would we go straight back to a place they occupy?"

The voice returned. _"Code authorized. However, there is an extreme weather watch in effect for the Kalm/Mythril Mine area and it is not advisable for any aircraft to be out in such..."_

Sephiroth interrupted the man. "This is an urgent mission. We cannot be grounded at this point in time."

"_We are not permitted–"_

"Override code Three-Zero-Theta."

There was a pause. Reno could almost imagine the air traffic controller gulping in response to this. _"Have a nice trip...but please be careful."_

"I am always careful." Sephiroth guided the chopper still higher in the sky and speedily towards Junon.

Almost immediately, they were pounded by intense rain. The visibility out the windshield soon became next to zero as torrent after torrent hit the glass. Shakily, Raieyana stood and walked to the front. "We can't go through–" Before she was able to finish, she was cut off by a huge burst of lightning, followed almost instantly with the loudest crack of thunder anyone in the helicopter had ever heard.

Clenching his jaw, Sephiroth changed the direction a bit, so they were flying alongside the brunt of the storm instead of flying straight into it.

"Kalm has to be near here," she insisted.

An unruly gust of wind blasted against the side of the craft, and the two occupants on the floor were slammed into the side as the helicopter fought to stay in the air.

Flipping silver hair over his shoulder, he resigned victory to the heavens. This time. "We will stop briefly until the weather clears...enough for us to go on."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

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Zack tapped his fingers on the tabletop, making a hollow, resounding noise. In fact, it was the only noise in the entire lobby of the inn. The owner had already turned in for the night, but the members of the group recently dubbed "Phoenix" were a little too restless to simply sleep.

"That's kinda annoying," Jessie said softly.

He continued with his nervous fidgeting, paying her no heed whatsoever.

With startling speed, Rude reached out and grabbed his hand, forcefully shoving it back into the lap of its owner. "You're irritating _all_ of us."

"What are we doing?" The others glanced up to see Tifa looking stressed out. "We should be getting to bed soon. We have a big trip ahead of us. Junon's more than a day's walk from here, in good weather."

"You know what we're doing just as well as the rest of us do." Jessie sighed softly. "We're waiting for Reno."

"Bull..." muttered Zack.

"You're just as concerned as the rest of us whether he had the instinct to get out of Midgar, or whether he's mourning us near the holocaust that used to be our home."

Rude chose to ignore the little discussion about their missing mercenary. He glanced around the room for what seemed like the umpteenth time...however, something managed to catch his eye this go around. Collecting dust in the corner, there stood a little... "Television?" His voice was incredulous.

The others watched with interest as he walked over to a little boxy thing, brushing off the dust, then wheeling it out closer to the table. He found the cord and plugged it into the wall. After turning the dial, a _very_ small box in the front began to glow a bit with the sparkle of digital snow.

"The storm must have screwed up the reception completely," Zack decided.

"I don't believe that's it." Rude walked back to the little corner. Sure enough, an old pair of rabbit ear antennae was there collecting cobwebs. Grabbing them, he shook as much crud off as he could before setting them on top of the television. He plugged them in. "Voila!"

Onscreen, a very blurry reporter was standing outside of a forbidding tower, known well to the group as Shinra's headquarters. Jessie reached over and turned up the volume.

"_...no other information has been released at this time. President Shinra's estimated Time of Death is approximately 9p.m. this evening, Midgar Standard Time. The top suspect at this time is Sephiroth, the captain of Shinra's Soldier scouting team, the Turks. If you have seen or have any information about this man, please call your local sector police force or Soldier base."_

Tifa shivered a bit at the sight of the photograph, instinctively bringing a hand up to touch the scar marring her face.

"_Maryanne, has there been any word on who is to succeed the President?"_

"_This hasn't been confirmed, but most reports agree that his son, as Vice-President, is next in line for the position and would inherit enough shares of company stock to promote himself to the position, if need be."_

"Looks like we really lucked out!" Zack laughed a little. "They don't even have time to blame Sector 7 on us, at least...they won't be hunting for us until they get their hands on that Sephiroth guy–"

.

A tall, commanding figure burst into the room in a stride of fury. Silver hair down his back, and he was dressed in the uniform of the Turks.

Zack cocked his head to one side, confused as to whether Sephiroth himself was indeed standing before him...and, if so, was it because he had mentioned the guy's name? (If he's here, the Shinra have to be right behind him. This is definitely _not_ good.)

Jessie shivered a bit. Maybe it was from the unnerving calm the man carried with him, despite the fact that he seemed perturbed at _something_. Either that, or it was due to the fact that he'd left the door wide open, and the harsh wind and sleet from the storm outside was beginning to blow in. (I guess a former general isn't bothered by death. He's used to killing...trained to perform the very act as quickly and as much as possible.)

Rude squinted, then removed his sunglasses. Blinking away the harsh lamplight, all he could think of were the final words said by the Turk outside Sector 7. _"Next time we meet, you'll have to deal with Sephiroth."_ (I wonder if that's still true. He's being chased by the Shinra, too, just like we are.) His features, however, hardened with barely contained anger. (He couldn't save the slum, though. He can stick a sword in the back of the most powerful man in our half of the globe, but not in time to do much good.)

Tifa began to tremble though, quickly turning her face a bit, hiding the scar. (What are you waiting for?!) She chastised herself mentally as she debated whether or not to attack him right on the spot. Well, perhaps debate wasn't the right word for it. There was an internal struggle inside of her. (_nononono_..._ican'tgooutthereandfight_..._nononono_

Stop it! You're all grown up now, you can take him on...this is what I've been training for, all my life!

_he'llkillmeandhurtme_..._hehurtcloudandcloud'sdead_..._idon'twannago_..._iwannaseemama_...) Somewhere deep down, Tifa's inner child lurked, frozen in pain and fear. Sitting nearly in the corner of the room, no one noticed her quaking. A voice inside her screamed, telling her to make her move before she lost her only chance–

Tifa did not move a muscle.

.

After a cool appraisal of the entourage in the lobby, the former general spoke. "I require lodging. For t–well, I suppose for four people."

Jessie peered at him with curiosity. (Why on the Planet would a wanted, hunted murderer traveling alone in the middle of a terrible storm need lodging for anyone besides himself?)

Zack shrugged a bit. "Sorry, I can't help you, man." He pointed to a little bell on the front desk. "Could try ringing that. Dunno what good it'll do, considering the owner headed to bed a couple hours ago."

One firm tap on the bell. _RING_. Sephiroth drummed his fingers on the tabletop impatiently. _RING_.

Running a hand through his black hair, he turned to the others with a look on his face. Eyebrow up, eyes rolling upwards with it. _Can you believe this guy?_ "Hey, buddy, maybe you should think about closing the do–"

At this precise moment, a young girl stumbled in. Fairly average height, definitely not dressed for the weather. Her short pink dress was wet and plastered tight against her skin, leaving little to the imagination. A little bit fraying near the bottom was evidence that she probably wasn't showing _quite_ that much leg before she went for her little walk in the rain. Her long, waist-length brown hair looked all limp, soggy, and tangled. She pointed to the Turk at the counter with a murderous look in her eyes.

"_You_! Took. The. Umbrella."

"It is raining," was his even, emotionless reply.

"You left us behind!"

She looked so upset, cold, and overall plain miserable that Zack felt his chivalry acting up a bit. "Hey. It's a bit warmer over here than in the doorway, I bet."

_RING_. Sephiroth turned back to the counter, obviously annoyed with her. "Tell your friends to walk faster next time." _RING_ went the bell, yet again.

Another personage stumbled into the inn. She looked very much like the first girl, dressed a bit more sensibly though. Pulling the hood from her sweater off of her head, she shook a few drops of water from her shoulder length locks before storming right up to Sephiroth.

She had absolutely no fear or caution, giving him a little shove, right in the shoulder. "What a total, unprofessional _jackass_ you are!" Another shove. "Who the hell decided you were fit to lead anyone, let alone the Turks? No leader leaves his companions out in bad weather, in the wild, by themselves! My dad could mop the floor with your pathetic butt. No wonder you..."

Her voice trailed off. A certain flash in his Mako eyes apparently told her she was about to cross over a very dangerous line. Sephiroth looked at the little bell with contempt. Firmly and repeatedly, he tapped it in rapid succession. _RINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRING_...

"Sir?" mumbled a sleepy voice.

_RINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRING_...

"May I help you?"

_RINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRING_...

The innkeeper reached out, snatching the bell from the reach of its overzealous ringer. "That will be quite enough, sir. What in the Planet do you need at such an hour?"

"Fool. This is the inn, is it not?"

She nodded slowly.

"The weather is foul and it is late. I am in the inn. What do you think I need, _simpleton_?"

The innkeeper grew indignant. "There is no need to take such a tone with me, young man. You rouse me from sleep and expect me to be completely coherent immediately?"

"If this were battle, you would be dead."

"Good thing this is an inn, then." She glanced at the amount of people gathered in the lobby. "Err...how many are staying with you? I only have two more vacant rooms. And they're doubles."

"Four." He tossed a five-hundred-gil note on the desk. "Will that be sufficient?"

"Sir, our rate is only fifty–"

He leaned in close, mesmerizing her with his fierce eyes. "After I check out tomorrow, you never saw me."

The innkeeper gulped and nodded. Setting two room keys on the desk, she headed back towards bed.

.

Sephiroth glanced at the two bedraggled girls. "Aeris. You will stay in my room with me."

The girl in pink's eyes widened. "What are you saying?"

"Calm yourself, I am not even insinuating anything inappropriate. I just do not trust the motives of these other two...companions of ours." He headed up the stairs. "I shall leave the room unlocked for you. I expect you to lock it when you come up and retire for the night."

The entire room breathed a collective sigh of relief after he made his exit. "Don't you ever, _ever_ do something like that again, Raieyana!" admonished the girl in pink–Aeris.

The other girl shook her head. "Look, I know the type. He was never probably even spanked as a child, and now he thinks he's so great, when he didn't win a war, he was _demoted_ to command a half-ass branch of the defense department, and he doesn't show concern for anyone."

"He broke me out of the lab..."

Raieyana snorted. "I'd just like to know his motive."

.

One final figure stormed into the lobby, slamming the door behind him. Removing his arm from where it lay shielding his eyes, he peered around at the room's occupants with blue-green eyes.

Jessie raised a hand to her gaping mouth. "Reno," she gasped. "You're all right!" She jumped up and wrapped her arms around her wet, half-frozen cousin.

The remainder of Phoenix continued sitting in shock at this very interesting course of events.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

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"What happened to you guys?" Reno asked smoothly, looking at the table where the rest of his companions were seated.

"You haven't heard the news?" Rude pointed to the television screen right behind him.

"Well," he said thoughtfully, "we know the president's croaked. Is there anything more than that?" He gazed behind his friend to see the breaking news report. His eyes widened. "Holy–wha...wh..." he stammered. "Did you guys know about this?"

"We tried to stop it," Jessie said softly, "but we got there after they'd sealed the sector off. We didn't do this, the Turks did."

"Sephiroth couldn't have helped though." Aeris looked at the group of strangers in front of her. "He was breaking me out of the lab then."

"I'm sure they understand, babe–" Reno stared at the TV, even more shocked then before. "That Seph guy is _wanted_ for murdering the president? Guess that scary red-caped guy was right about them pinning blame on him."

"You mean...Sephiroth didn't kill the president?" Tifa asked slowly.

"No." Raieyana shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't put something like that past the guy, but we saw with our own eyes. Some whacked out looking blonde guy with a..." She paused, suddenly noticing the busty brunette had a scar on _her_ face, remarkably similar to that on the president's murderer.

"A scar like yours," Reno said bluntly.

She closed her eyes, hugging herself.

"Teef?" Zack placed a hand on her shoulder.

"How...odd," she whispered.

He simply patted her back comfortingly. Glancing up at the two girls he'd just met, he decided it was time to get to know each other better. "So what's the deal with you two? Sisters or something?"

"I'd actually like to find out myself," Aeris said.

Everyone turned towards Raieyana, expectantly. "Well...I guess the first thing you need to know about my story...is that Aeris is an Ancient, the last of her kind. Which makes her very valuable to Shinra. Seventeen years ago, Aeris was being held in the lab of Shinra's Science Department. In those days, technology was not very advanced. They didn't know much about DNA or cloning...what they could do was in vitro fertilization–test tube babies."

"You're my test tube sister?" Aeris looked at the girl in shock.

She shook her head. "It's not that simple. Apparently, Aeris, your mother was very ill at this time. They weren't sure if you were going to be strong enough to make it, even if they raised you in a lab. So they transplanted the contents of one of your egg cells into a mature one...and fertilized it with a sample they had gotten from one of their Turks. The commander." She swallowed. "My father, Tseng."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that genetically speaking, you're my mother." Raieyana continued on before she could get interrupted. "For some foolish reason or another, the head of science, Hojo, actually told my father about me... Like it was something he should be proud of, that a child of his was captive in a laboratory. He pretended to do his job, pretended to search for Aeris and her mother after they escaped, until he smuggled me out of the lab. Cut all the ties he could with the company. Of course, they've been blackmailing him ever since."

"Why do you have glowy eyes?" Rude asked.

"Aside from mixing Ancient DNA with that of a strong Turk, Hojo thought it necessary to give me a similar Mako bath treatment as that given to members of their army. Except I figure I was given a much higher dose than most of the Soldiers were." She put her hands on her hips. "Now don't give me that pitying look! I don't even remember ever _being_ in the lab. My dad's had me since I was a toddler."

The corners of Aeris's mouth twitched. "Looks like you've just about told my story yourself. I don't remember much about the lab myself, but what I do remember wasn't horribly bad...just stifling for a kid, of course. I never would have imagined…what all they were doing when they left my cell."

The others nodded their understanding.

"Shinra is...more unbelievably evil than I could have imagined," Tifa remarked suddenly. She shook her head. "Guys...I think it's about time we got some rest."

Rude and Zack stood up and started to head up the stairs behind her. Jessie gave her cousin one more hug, before turning to follow the others. "I will see you in the morning!"

.

Aeris looked at Reno and Raieyana sheepishly. "Yeah, I think if I get in late and wake Sephiroth up, he'll go all terse and mean on me. So, when he wakes me up at dawn, I'll be sure to knock on you guys' door!" She giggled, trotting up the stairs.

Reno blinked a few times. "She's sleeping with the silver-haired dude?"

"Calm yourself. I'm sure there are two beds...besides, he thought if he shared a room with you, he'd have to kill you eventually." Raieyana grinned. "Dunno why he thought you'd survive me."

The two of them headed up to their room. Reno pushed open the door, allowing her to enter first, with an exaggerated gesture. "Now, honey, if you get lonely during the night, you're always welcome to join me in–" He looked past her and grinned.

"One bed?" The look on her face was one of sheer horror.

"Looks comfy," Reno said, shutting the door.

"Yeah..." She pointed to the floor. "And look, how thoughtful, a rug for you so sleeping on the floor doesn't make your ass too cold."

"You like the floor? Kinky." He raised an eyebrow.

Leaning over, she began to turn down the sheets. "Oh come on, you didn't possibly think you were going to get the bed."

"Wait one second, missy. I'm perfectly willing to share. So why do you think your stingy butt should be sleeping in it?"

Raieyana put a hand on her hip. "If you were a _gentleman_, you'd sleep on the floor, no questions asked."

"Well, last time I checked, _ladies_ don't wander around with strange guys. Period." He smiled smugly. "Just think, if it were a few years ago, you'd be called bad names for merely spending time alone with me."

"I'd call myself bad names if I did this voluntarily."

"That so? Then why'd you beg to tag along with me today?" Something small and shiny whizzed through the air, pinning his sleeve firmly to the wall. Reno examined it. (A silver shuriken...)

She glared at him. "I was working with you to help Aeris. Not because I'm attracted to a grungy guy like you _or_ because I thought your cowardly methodology of hiding under helicopters was worth much of anything."

He pulled the small piece of metal off, tossing it into the wastebasket. Approaching her, he laughed a bit. "Yes, like the way you yell when something happens that you don't like is anything better."

Whirling around, she turned her full attention back to the bedding.

Reno grabbed her arm, spinning her back around to face him. (Man...if looks could kill...there would be some permanent bloodstains in the hardwood floor.) "Sorry. I keep forgetting you're just a kid."

Piercing green eyes continued to glare at him. "Are you quite finished?"

He brought a hand up to caress her cheek. "You're pretty damn cute when you're mad, though."

Her gaze softened a bit.

Grinning mischievously, he gloated to himself. (Well that was easy.) "How 'bout a goodnight kiss?" he whispered, slowly leaning his face down to hers...

Raieyana decked him in the face with a pillow. "I might be young, but I'm not stupid." She ripped the bedspread off the bed, throwing it at him viciously. "If you so much as lay a finger on me in the night, I will start cutting off very important parts." Shutting off the lamp, she crawled into bed. Alone.

Dejectedly, Reno lay down on the rug, covering himself with his second-rate bedding. Soon though, he was deep in sleep, unaware of the bright green eyes that were gazing at his form half the night.

* * * * * *

_The little girl gazed down from the catwalk of the old reactor, watching the Lifestream's ebb and flow from quite a few stories up in the air._

_Suddenly, a form rose out of the glowing liquid, floating gently up. It came to a stop in front of her. Standing around five foot seven inches tall, blonde hair styled into tall spikes, blue eyes glowing from overexposure to the Lifestream._

"_Cloud?" she whispered. "You're all grown up."_

"_I wish you were," he said sadly._

_Tifa looked down, realizing that she was no longer a little girl, but a twenty-year old woman. She stood and faced him. "I am...look at me."_

_The man reached out, caressing her cheek, the scarred flesh. "You thought you survived, and I had fallen. But the truth is, I have moved on, while you remain the same."_

"_I don't understand..."_

"_You are still weak," he said scornfully, throwing her down. "You are a mere human." He spat upon her._

_Wiping his saliva from her face, a tear dropped down, a glittering spot on the cold metal walkway. "No! I trained and fought...I will avenge what he did to you."_

"_Fool." He drew his sword, long, thin...a replica of the Masamune that the former general carried himself. With one fell swoop, he slashed the woman from shoulder to abdomen._

_Tifa could not speak, nor scream. She just simply watched as her blood flowed from her body, sliding off the walkway, dripping into the Lifestream. Cool green soon became flawed with shades of red._

_Suddenly, she was a little girl again. Her chest was fine...but she was holding the gash in her marred face, watching the blood trickle from her clenched fingers, and crying._

.

Tifa sat up with a start. "Cloud, no!" she whispered, before realizing where she was. (An inn...in Kalm. It was only a dream... partly a memory.)


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

.

The cool, damp night air brushed against her face the instant she threw open the door. Tifa paused, reflecting in the faint glow of the moonlight. Suddenly, a terse voice startled her out of her reverie.

"Early riser or too _perky_ to sleep?" it remarked dryly.

"Neither. I had a–" She had finally gotten a good look at the figure speaking to her from the shadows. "N–nightmare," she stuttered in conclusion.

A flash of silver hair was flipped over his shoulder. "A _dream_ sends you fleeing from a safe, warm bed into the depths of the night?" The tone of his voice contained nothing but mocking condescension.

The girl merely shook her head. "You..."

"Yes?" Sephiroth prompted.

She searched to come up with a viable comment. "Are more talkative than I thought you would be. You're the soldier type. Like a stoic."

"Yes." The word was definitive.

With a dissatisfied sigh, Tifa plopped down onto the stoop gingerly. Although next to the man she regarded as the paramount of all evil, she thoughtfully placed as much distance as possible between the two of them.

The two sat calmly for quite some time; comfortable, it seemed, in the silence and in the darkness.

Then it broke.

"I can smell your fear." Sephiroth's words were precise.

"No, not at all." A denial. Her right eyebrow twitched nervously. "Maybe apprehensive." The words then began to roll out as quickly as a runaway train barreling down the tracks. "Maybe I might possibly be a little bit apprehensive of you, what with your reputation and not knowing you and all, but–"

"Peace, woman." He held a hand up, quieting her. "You have all reason to be afraid. Miss Gainsborough told me about the accusations Shinra Inc. has made against me. I am innocent, but no smart person would trust me."

"An even smarter one would pretend to, though," Tifa said softly before she could stop herself.

"Heh."

She widened her eyes in amazement. (Did that asshole just chuckle?)

"You are pretty wise for such a young _lamb_."

Peering at him with curiosity, and a burst of courage, she weighed her next statement cautiously before letting it fall free. "I'm not as innocent as you must think I am. Many terrible things happened to me when I was quite young."

"Your memory is that good to where you remember enough of such things to trouble yourself?"

(He...he actually sounds surprised.) Tifa blinked. "Of course."

"I am lucky if I remember five years ago, let alone twenty." Sephiroth's voice was flat, emotionless. The simple stating of a fact.

She looked away from him, to the light pink streaks subtly signaling the impending dawn.

"The girl also says her slum boy is a friend of you all. I expect we will be journeying to Junon together, since I intend to go to the west."

"Oh." Tifa continued to be fixated on the eastern horizon.

"I shall wake them now."

The very instant he disappeared into the inn, she took a single shuddering breath. And nearly collapsed from the wrenching sobs that followed.

* * * * * *

_I am the night._

_I am the empty, the hungry._

_Fill my void to the brim and still I thirst for more. Give unto me all that you are, and still I cut you. Bleed into me and even then I will suck your dryness._

_I am the wet and the parched. More than you will ever know and less than you can ever see._

_The first paradox was me. I will be your lord and master. Kiss the ground, spread your legs, open your mouth, lay naked before me. Revel in corruption and drink the tears of your mothers, but I am still the thing most depraved._

_For I am your master; I am the one most enslaved._

_I am a vessel. Broken-bodied, leaking, and decayed._

_My rotting flesh is fed unto your masses, while you huddle around stoves of death radiating the scorching cold of the farthest reaches of our galaxy._

_You touch your skin to absolute zero and wonder from whence comes the chill._

_You lick the devastating, putrid scum of disease and think you are not ill._

_So when the truth finally reaches you sniveling idiots, and your minds' redemption is passed, you won't be better off than I. Nor better off than you are now. Ignorance is bliss._

_I may be a puppet, but __**I'm**__ clutching __**your**__ strings._

* * * * * *

The calm of the morning was broken by the muffled sounds of a heated argument above the heads of the three people eating breakfast in the lobby.

"I wonder who that is," Zack thought aloud, grabbing a roll from his bag.

"I don't," said Jessie with a laugh. "Someone and that angry girl."

"You'd probably be angry if you'd been left in the rain by the 'sore loser general,'" he retorted.

"She's just another girl you couldn't get," she teased in return.

Sephiroth stalked into the door, silver hair flying behind him, a bundle in his hands. It had begun to unfold, and its contents had partially come free of the brown paper wrapper. Pink fabric, streaming over his arms.

Rude shook his head a bit, then lifted his shades to make sure his eyes were seeing properly.

A glare. "Ms. Gainsborough needed a replacement for the one I ruined last night." Without another word, he charged up the stairs.

Zack managed to hold in his laughter until the solemn man had disappeared back inside his room. "Holy shit," he gasped, "that's gotta be the best line I've ever heard. Knowing how prim and holy the girl looks, and how antisocial _he_ is...it's just..." He convulsed with a few more giggles.

Jessie and Rude, meeting each other's eyes, just shook their heads at the ridiculous state of their companion.

* * * * * *

Reno was running for his life. From, of all things, a petite teenage girl holding the sash of a bathrobe. "Chill, chill, it was just a bit of fun!" he protested.

"Fun?!" Her outraged voice was almost at a growl. "Luckily for you, I had clothes on under this thing, so I don't have to cut off your balls!"

"Well, since you _were_ fully clothed, what's the harm in untying the robe you had on?"

"It's the principle of the thing!"

"You should be flattered–ow!" Raieyana had kicked him in the shin.

"You shouldn't be such a damn pervert. Geez, I should have left you in the Shinra building and went home." Sitting down, she crossed her arms and met his gaze with a harsh glare.

"This isn't a partnership or anything. Don't worry, I'll be just as happy to set your ass down in Junon as you will be to get there. Then you can sit at home with _Daddy_ and be perfectly safe from the male half of the human race." There was a slight sneer to his voice.

"I like men, not childish little boys," she replied primly.

"It's not like I have a taste for kids like you, either, honey." Reno tilted his head back and gave her the full effect of an eye roll.

(Why does he always have to get the last word?! Why can't he just accept that no one in their right mind would have anything to do with him? Why does he insist that my lack of interest means I'm a child?) She fumed to herself. (I'm _not_ a child!)

"You certainly act like one."

Her curious glance back at him slowly turned to reserved horror. (Did I say that last part out loud?)

He laughed a little. "You can't even keep track of what you say and what you don't," was the response to her verbal faux pas.

Raieyana sighed, leaning back into her chair. "There's a lot more to me than you think you see."

Slowly, cautiously, Reno leaned in over her. "Well, you won't let me see anything, remember?" He pointedly took a long look over the length of her body before meeting her look of surprise, a devilish gleam in his eye.

The first thought that came to mind was not one of incensed outrage. (His eyes can't even decide what color to be...light blue, flecks of green, or light green, flecks of blue?) She snapped back to reality and realized she was still quietly staring at the biggest jerk she'd ever met.

He chuckled, recognizing the embarrassed look on her face. "The others are probably all down there waiting for us," he said in a low voice, letting out an expression of bemused disappointment. Standing up straight, he grabbed her bag before she could give an argument. "See ya downstairs."

.

(Finally alone.)

Raieyana took a deep breath, trying to will the flush to leave her cheeks. But, aggravatingly enough, it refused to. Never mind that, there were more important things to tend to anyway.

Like how to clear her mind of the Reno eye color debate. Or the feeling of his breath tickling her ear. Or his smell, fresh from the shower. Shivering, she took one more deep breath before she strode out to the stairs.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

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"We're all headed to Junon then?" Jessie smiled happily. "Oh, this will be so much fun. Roaming around the countryside with all my friends."

Sephiroth stared at the newest perky brunette as she chirped about the high "fun-ness" of the journey they were about to take. He was afraid that he'd have to kill her if she kept it up much longer.

The very rag-tag group had gathered on the tiled village square, next to the well. It was only an hour or two after dawn, but everyone knew that it was in their best interests to get as far away from Midgar as possible. The Soldier forces searching for a murderer and a band of terrorists would eventually start looking outside the city.

"We never really got around to full introductions last night," Jessie continued, missing the furious glares shot her direction by Tifa and Sephiroth.

The girl in pink took to this offer warmly. Smoothing the crease out of her new, long-skirted, pink floral peasant dress, she extended her hand. "I'm Aeris Gainsborough. I sell flowers in Midgar proper. I love to brighten up people's days with a pretty flower." The two friendly girls shook hands.

"I'm Raieyana Amine. I've been training in weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, as of late." Her emerald eyes were fixed on Reno. (I'm not going to move from this spot. No way, no how.) It must be stated now that she was exactly as far away from the man as she could be, while still being "in the group."

Said man grinned cockily. "I think everyone knows me."

"Unfortunately," she muttered, giving Zack a good reason to grin.

"Well," the black haired man said, dark eyes flashing, "this is taking forever. I'm Zack Baines, and I'm a _very_ important member of our group. We've decided to call ourselves Phoenix–because, well, I'm not too sure, Jessie's a bit better with the literature than I am–and our leader is Jessie Baxter. She's Reno's cousin, you see. And the silent man, the _embodiment_ of stoicism over here, is Rude–"

Silently, Tifa had crept up from the fringes of the gathering and right into the center of it. She pushed Zack's arm aside, and introduced herself. "My name is Tifa Lockheart. I'm from the village of Nibelheim." She fixed her eyes on those of Sephiroth, challenging his memory to drudge up remnants of events long forgotten.

He did look a bit haunted, green Mako eyes transfixed on the woman whose mood had switched between sturdy and frail several times in the twelve hours or so he'd known her. Tossing a bit of silver hair back behind his back, he glanced around the people gathered in front of him. Annoyingly enough, he realized, they were waiting for _him_ to say something about _himself_! "I judge you all realize just who I am."

They nodded.

"Let's be off then. We shall have to go on foot. The hail damaged our helicopter, not that we would have all fit inside." (Unfortunate for me that I could not take my vehicle and abandon these wretched fools.)

The eight outlaws shouldered their gear and headed off onto the grassy plains, into the morning sun.

* * * * * *

"Still slaving away at the machines, I see." Renee Scarlet's laugh reverberated through Reeve's office.

Damn, if it wasn't the most annoying thing he'd ever heard. "Yes, Ms. Scarlet?" Though trained by years of private academy and business school, he hadn't quite hardened all his edges yet, unfortunately for one caught in the scope of a hawk-like coworker.

"_Miss_ Scarlet," she insisted, voice honey-sweet, "though I hope we shall be come acquainted enough for you to handle my front name."

Reeve raised an eyebrow. "'Front name'?" he inquired, with a tone of amused confusion.

Briefly pausing to glance at the ceiling, she composed herself perfectly. A "whoops, was that really me" expression danced in her features, as she modestly smiled and ever so slightly pitched forward.

(She's unbuttoned the top of her blouse) Reeve noted with disgust. This woman was nearly ten years older than him, and not quite the type to go around seducing every man in power she could find. Well, not the type to actually succeed, anyway.

"Quaint lil' expression from where I grew up..."

(A barn?)

"...I was merely saying that I wouldn't mind, no I'd actually _prefer_, if you'd call me Renee. Last names are the norm here, and it's so dreadfully impersonal."

"As far as I knew, _Ms. Scarlet_..." Reeve was being very insistent with company and general business protocol. "...we weren't supposed to fraternize with our co-workers."

"Oh, Mr. Jordan." The odd giggle again. "That rule is merely for _our_ subordinates, and the president tends to look the other way in most of those cases, anyway. He doesn't mind what you do as long as you manage to do your job...as well as you can." She winked.

"Last I checked, the president is no longer with us. So, until we are sure of the policy that will be set forward by his successor, we might as well be more safe and less sorry." He finished the entry he'd been working on and hit "Enter" with a vengeance. "Do you have any actual business with me?"

His words stung. They weren't venomous, no, Reeve was always a bit too polite for that to ever happen, but Scarlet could feel the prickles. They gathered around her neck, the tips of her ears, a bit on her cheek... Blushing with embarrassment at the results of her little "experiment," she backed off a bit. "So I g–guess this means that you don't even want to hear my invitation for a drink?"

Reeve looked up at her with a bit of startled surprise. (Dear lord, is she _still_ going at it?)

Not wanting to wait for his decline, she scowled at him, and a sneer entered her voice. "Well this is an unfortunate day for you, then. I doubt I'll have time for the newbie likes of you once Mr. Rufus has gotten settled in."

The young executive watched her storm out with a look of complete amazement on his face. (Does she think that she has anything that a guy my age or younger would want? She always seemed like the shy, quiet loner type until now.) He wondered a moment more about the circumstances that could change a personality so dramatically, before turning back to his monitor.

.

"_Estimated Civilian Loss in Sector 7: 342,000"_

He had looked at the calculation a hundred times, many more, leading his state-of-the-art machine into more series of calculations than he could remember. However, the math of computers did not replace the math of man without good reason; every single calculation had come back statistically equivalent to the first startling total.

Reeve felt a pang at his conscience as he thought about a small city simply wiped out into nothingness.

(But that's what those terrorists wanted...to bring Midgar to its knees, and be destroyed by those evil Wutaians in the east.)

For once, however, Shinra excuses rang hollow in his ears as he stared at the cold harsh glow of the screen. (We have the technology and the forces to guard the reactors!) He had been running all the figures himself, and he knew the reasoning behind the massacre. (It's too expensive to keep innocent people alive.)

Another line of berating flowed into his ears, waving like a cloud of mist around his head. (I guess it's a good thing that Reeve Jordan is no longer an innocent.)

"_Cost to maintain water levels until waste disperses: $32,000,000 gil._

_Cost to drain Sector 7 and clean waste: $19,000,000,000 gil."_

.

Breaking away from the monitor, he placed a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes, guilt-stricken. Thousands of innocents, dead without cause, denied burial, and left suspended in unholy water...to deteriorate and fade from memory.

All because of money.

* * * * * *

"No. I don't trust you to do what you say you will. I don't trust _any_ of my friends to you!" Zack glowered at the taller man with the waist length sterling hair, and the ever-so-mocking green Mako eyes.

"There are two black chocobos and eight of us. I don't think that dragging so much dead weight through Mythril Mine is wise. Therefore, four people should take the birds and I will lead the rest. Believe me, an abandoned mine is no large peril, but even so, there are those I'd rather not be forced to be concerned with."

Following the ex-general's gaze, Zack's eyes came to rest on a certain redhead leaning on a fencepost, idly eyeing up Tifa. Tinges of anger flared up. (You know, Reno might have his faults, but that's one of our members he's badmouthing!)

"Do you understand?" Sephiroth said impatiently.

Resigning defeat, he hissed a whispering reply. "I don't want to get stuck with him, either."

"Who from your group will accompany you?"

He looked up, and the sight of Tifa stretching out her muscles, sore from walking, caught his eye. She looked up to meet his gaze, and he waved her over.

Warily, she joined him. "What's up?"

"Well, I think our traveling arrangements have been settled."

"Oh?" Distracted, she kept close watch over Sephiroth from the corner of her eye.

Lowering his voice, Zack looked her straight in the face. "I think Jess wants to spend some time with Reno...they never really got the time to catch up. Rude's gotten a bit protective of her ever since the Corneo incident, so I think it'd be best to let him watch over her."

"Do you trust him?" The timbre of her voice was very odd; her question pointedly about the cold, terse man speaking in hushed tones to Aeris.

"I don't think we have a choice."

Tifa bit her lip. "But he stands for everything that we've fought against."

"No," he whispered, shaking his head. "I don't think he's ever stood for anything in his entire life."

.

"_The hell_?!" Reno's outraged voice carried on the wind. "I am not going to baby-sit some overgrown canary and take the long way around the mountains just because you have no leadership skills!"

Zack and Rude were amused at his reaction; Jessie was slightly dismayed. Aeris merely furrowed her brow, while Tifa pretended she wasn't there at all. Raieyana simply put a hand to her temple and sank onto the grass. (Iwon'tprovokehimIwon'tprovokehimIwon't–)

"I was being polite, but if you desire, I can take your chocobo and _you_ can lead the group past the Midgar Zolom. Though I expect poor results from such an expedition...Midgar slum life no preparation for such a journey."

Reno examined the dirty marsh and the gaping cave off in the distance, comparing it to the dirty bird kicking up dirt beside him. Then he decided to foist responsibility off of his own shoulders. "Whaddya think I should do, Raieyana?"

"Huh?" She looked up. "I dunno, take a long walk off a short pier?"

"I'll take the group through the mines if I can feed her to the _worm_." The pair traded mutually antagonistic glares.

Aeris smiled. "I'd trade her places," she said sweetly, "but I think my healing skills would be better off in battle than on boco-back."

"So." Jessie hopped up. "I guess we'll see y'all on the other side." Cheerful hugs were given to Zack and Tifa, with Aeris and Sephiroth receiving a timid wave.

"Take care," replied the flower girl in return.

With that, the four turned and began their course towards the distant marshes, readying for battle along the way.

.

...and then Rude boosted Jessie onto a saddled chocobo, before mounting behind her. Raieyana could do little besides gape at them in shock.

Jessie was sympathetic. "When everyone was 'discussing' how to get from point A, to point B, Rude was preparing a chocobo. He figured someone from Phoenix would be using it. He's our 'think ahead' guy." She winked, her friend gave a curt wave, and the two of them trotted off towards a nice pass in the mountains.

"I can't believe my luck." Raieyana simply sank down into the grass.

Reno watched her from his fencepost position. "For someone so down on their luck, you don't seem to want to head out of here very quickly."

She shook her head. "I just want to go _home_."

"C'mon then." Grabbing her hand, he jerked her up roughly, before turning to the gear that had been left for their use. He began to saddle the chocobo they'd rented. "Believe me, I'd sure like to drop you off as soon as possible, hon."

"Can I help?" she asked meekly.

"I doubt it," Reno snapped.

Hot tears rose to her eyes. (It's not my fault I'm stuck here on a goddamn chocobo farm with someone with chocobo dung for brains, who's lazy and lecherous and stuck-up and hot and–) Raieyana's eyes widened in shock and disgust at her own thoughts, causing a single teardrop to slide over her lids and down her cheek.

"There, all done!" Cheer had returned to his voice already, and he turned to grin at her. The smile, however, went lopsided. "You okay?"

She shot him a look of pure exasperation. "Of course not, I'm stuck. With you. _Again_."

Reno shook off the sting. "Front or rear?" He pointed to the saddle.

"Get on. I don't trust you behind me."

He obliged, leaping up before extending a hand back to her.

Ignoring his offer of aid, Raieyana mounted on her own. She sat high in the saddle, hands gripping the sides of the leather, touching her saddle-mate as little as humanly possible.

(So tense.) Sensing the mood and feelings behind him, Reno coaxed their steed into a high-speed chase of their recently departed friends. Soon, the disharmonious pair was nothing more than a speck on the distant horizon.

They were long, long gone before the Gelnikas landed, and the troops burned Chocobo Joe's farm to the ground.


	16. Part 4: Long Division Chapter 15

Part 4- Long Division

.

Chapter 15

.

"I think it's sprained."

Raieyana shook her head. "No way. No _fucking_ way am I believing that, you doofus. You'd need the most perfect excuse imaginable if you think you could trick me into staying around here with you any longer than I hav–" The look on his face stopped her in her tracks.

"Why in _hell_ do you think I'd waste my time on a bratty little teen girl whose father has enough connections to kill me about fifteen times?"

A hot flush rose to her cheeks, the effect of her embarrassment. "It's not like they're not already after you anyway, and besides, I know..."

"What do you know besides your overprotective ex-Evil parent and your prep school where you took a self-defense course or two? What do you know about me? Let me inform you a bit, honey. That Tifa girl? All over me. And don't shake your head at me, because I don't even give her the time of day. I'm in this whole resistance gig as a favor to a dead uncle. I met you rescuing your goddamn mother. Maybe I ain't the most couth guy out there, but I'm sorry. A few years imprisoned with murderers, thieves, and rapists by Evil, Inc tend to do that to a guy."

Silence hung in the air.

"Now this bird is lame. I was stupid, okay? I pushed the fool thing too hard, and he hurt himself. But believe me, I do not want to be stopped here with you. The closer I am to Junon, the closer I am to getting rid of your judgmental ass. You'd have been ditched in a heartbeat by a man of lesser integrity. If only that." Reno began to storm off, leading the hobbling chocobo behind him by the reins.

.

She slowly sank to her knees. There was an awful sort of gnawing in the pit of her stomach. The feeling that always came when she was accused of being some sort of "Daddy's girl" living her life in an ivory tower.

The feeling that probably arose from the grain of truth lying in those words.

Reno had gotten a good ways away from her before he noticed that she hadn't come scampering after him like a hurt puppy dog. He turned, expecting to see her in the same place, pouting and fuming no doubt, or doing said pouting and fuming while storming back _towards_ the chocobo farm. What he saw surprised him.

Sitting in the slightly dewy grass, head on knees, arms wrapped round to the other side, Raieyana was taking great care that her shoulders were not hitching as she silently cried into her skirt.

('Kay. Girl with attitude of disillusioned old woman now acting like a four-year-old.) He scratched his head as he ambled back towards her. He left the chocobo, figuring the bird wouldn't be going anywhere on its bum leg.

She didn't look up.

"Umm." He nudged her with his foot.

"What?" Her hostile reply was half-muffled by her legs.

Reno laughed a little. "You know, that line about keeping my word to the ol' uncle was meant as a reminder to the fact that I told your daddy I'd get you home. I meant that one, too."

She looked up with fury. "I didn't promise to go with you. And you didn't promise _me_ anything, so don't worry. I can make it back on my own, and Dad won't know the difference. I just wish I could've brought Aeris to see him, too."

"Look, so what if we clash. Ain't no reason for me to abandon you in the great wide open when there's no reason for it."

Raieyana snorted. "Are you done respectfully pretending to care yet?"

"You know what?!" Sparks flared in his eyes, and she looked up in a bit of half-triumph. He saw this and shook his head. "No, no. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what _you_ were doing when the Shinra hauled your ass into their Science department in the first place."

Pure shock. "That's not fair. And _so_ irrelevant, it's not even funny!"

"So you were on your way home alone, I take it."

She stood up and poked him with her finger. "You make me so–"

"No longer sitting?" he said, bemused.

"What?" Her face was a study in confusion.

"Never mind. What the hell were you doing so close to Midgar all alone?"

She sighed. "I wasn't embellishing that part about me doing weapons and fighting training," Raieyana admitted. "I can't really tell you anything more than that. Apparently, the Turks had been tracking my occasional side trip to Kalm on my trips between there and home and, about a week ago, there was an entire Soldier squad waiting outside the seafood restaurant after I ate lunch. Sephiroth at his non-losing prime couldn't have done half as well as I did, and they got me easily. It's hard to dodge twenty fully loaded guns."

"But you tried?"

"Well..." She gave him a small self-satisfied grin. "Most of them were singing in the soprano range before they had me fully restrained."

Reno laughed. "Why does that not surprise me?" He reached around and squeezed her shoulder, while she naturally settled against the warmth of his arm.

She looked over and locked eyes with him. Suddenly, her attention was diverted. "What is that sound? It's almost like a blender..."

.

Shushing her with a finger to her lips, Reno listened to the gusts of the wind. "Nothin–wait." He turned back the way they had come from, seeing a small speck on the edge of the horizon. "Shit."

"What?!"

"It's a Gel. No time to get to the bird, dammit anyway. Get down!" He pushed her to her knees and held her tight against his chest, shielding her from view of the oncoming plane. "They'll see that goddamn overgrown chicken from a mile away. It's black," he muttered.

The overgrown grass only gave them a little bit of cover. If any type of aircraft hovered above them for any longer than a moment, they'd be way out in the open. "Maybe that can actually help us," she whispered.

"How?"

His breath tickled her ear, and, for a moment, she fought to think straight. "Well if it passes, no worries for us, right?" She continued on, not waiting for a response. "So let's say they notice the choco and come back to examine it. Their attention will be focused and we can use that time to find some better cover."

The two of them shook a little as the plane roared its passage over them. Reno had her pressed almost entirely to the ground, covered with the length of his body. "Better than nothing. I'm a little brave, but not bulletproof," he muttered. His body also silently protested the fact that it had to be so tight against hers.

The Gelnika inevitably turned back after passing the bird, and the pair slowly rose to a crouching position.

"You don't happen to have a suggestion for 'better cover,' too?"

Raieyana searched around desperately. "I see a cave!"

"No shit?"

"It's right across a huge stream. Either that or they have some really blue grass out here," she said, a little bit of fear entering her tone. "That's not going to be a quick getaway."

"No choice, honey. I'll be right behind you, for cover. Just keep as low as you can until the riverbank. As fast as those nice legs can carry you."

She paused abruptly and turned back to him. "Nice _what_?"

.

There were five seconds of horror as machine gun fire erupted and their former black steed fell over, riddled with bullet holes. "Move it!"

No time for thought, as they ran blindly through grass, cattails, and across wet sand. There was only a brief pause before Raieyana charged into the freezing cold water, clothes, shoes, and all. She slowed down a bit, her initial burst of adrenaline seeping out of her.

Reno caught up to her and offered a few words of encouragement. "The men landed down and seem fascinated by the chocobo. Thank the Planet you didn't tie your bag on it."

Together, the two climbed up the bank on the other side and sprinted the final couple hundred yards to the cave. Inside, it was deep, warm, and dry. It even had a few holes in its depths acting as natural skylights.

"It looks safe enough," Reno declared. "But we better lay low for a little while. May even be that you're not quite the fugitive that either Sephiroth or Aeris is, but we can't chance it."

"What...if something lives in here?" She looked up at him expectantly.

"If it's mean, then we kill it." He glanced around and only saw piles of bat dung. "Since it looks just like flappy nocturnal animals that stay in the very _very_ rear of the cave, we should be okay." He smiled, then his eyes lit up as he thought of something. "Can I borrow that staff of yours?"

Warily, Raieyana handed him her weapon. "Be careful," she warned.

He used it as a tool to push the dung into a pile.

"What are you–"

"Hush." He handed it back to her. "Watch this." Reno gave her a wink before he concentrated intently on the pile in front of him, hand on a small green orb in an armlet he wore. The pile of guano burst into flames, producing a small but steady source of heat. "Natural fuel. Who needs Mako?"

She giggled. "So the most intelligent thing I've seen you do involves crap. Wonder what that says about you?"

He rolled his eyes before plopping down in the dust next to her. "Did you think I was going to let you sit here soaked to the bone? Hell, if you wore anything lighter, you'd be showing off more right now than Aeris did in the rain last night."

"Showing off..." her voice trailed off as she glanced at the fabric that clung tightly to every curve and angle of her body. Her eyes widened. "You pervert!" She smacked him on the arm.

"I said 'if,'" he protested, raising his arms up in self-defense.

Raieyana watched the muscles of his back ripple through his soaked shirt and decided turnabout was fair play; she let the issue drop.

"Just get closer to the fire and you'll be like the desert in no time." He got up and walked towards the doorway. "I'm gonna check out the situation outside."

"Reno?"

He turned back.

"How long are we gonna have to stay here?"

"I dunno. Could be an hour...could be a day."


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

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(This is insane.)

Tifa's internal judgment system tended to be correct in such situations. Staring up at the Midgar Zolom, she decided that her gut instinct had just scored another point.

_Wham!_

The large serpent suddenly lashed out its tail, throwing Zack away from any sort of attack range. Ironically, he did land nearer to the cavernous entrance they had been running towards in the first place.

(Not like that matters if the damn thing eats us...) Quickly, she darted forward as the creature's guard was still down. She only dared pummel its scaly hide for a few moments before flipping back to a safer distance.

Sephiroth shot her a condescending look before launching his own offensive. The masamune's blade sliced through the air, reaching...reaching... The swing ended in the ground with a dull thud.

The Zolom hissed, spitting venom in their direction. Coughing, both Tifa and Sephiroth backtracked a bit.

Aeris had been half-cowering behind her friends. This creature was definitely of a different caliber than the piddly little monsters roaming the slums. The venom gave her body a strong negative reaction. Moaning slightly, she dropped to her knees.

There was a deep feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Even worse, it was already beginning to seem like it had always been there...

A burst of light exploded and Aeris' body began to glow. Rising to her feet, she tossed her staff aside and began to pray...

.

Sephiroth felt a rush of cool wind and the slight fuzz left his mind. Somehow, he tasted blood–he must have bitten his tongue in his attempt to dodge the venom–and his eyes saw red. He'd held back before; he would not make that error again.

Zack rose to his feet, unsteadily, just in time to see a flash of silver diving towards the enemy. (That guy is a reflection of utter stupidity.) In truth, the rashness of the move was not becoming of a person who had once been given the title of "general." (Maybe that's why he–)

The scream was haunting and terrifying. A blood-curdling cry echoed on the wind, and a creature that had haunted the marsh for ages was dead. _Really_ dead. Impaled on a nearby tree trunk dead.

.

It took a few minutes before the others had realized exactly what Sephiroth had done. Zack could only gaze in silence as he stumbled back towards them through the marsh.

"How?" Tifa whispered.

Slowly but surely the gazes of wonder turned from the impaled serpent to the man who had managed to put it there. He didn't understand what the issue was; he'd defeated the enemy, and they could now move forward. Instead, however, these people were gaping at him.

The uncomfortable standoff would have continued to sundown, probably, if Aeris hadn't stepped towards him. "That's a big load off our shoulders, now, isn't it?" she said brightly.

His expression warming up slightly in spite of himself, Sephiroth nodded.

Tifa cocked her head to the side. "Of course."

Stretching his arms above his head, Zack looked a little put out. "I just wish the damn thing hadn't tossed me half a mile away." The two of them began walking towards the entrance of the Mythril Mine, and the ex-general watched them quietly, unmoving.

"We're still going with them, right?" Aeris turned to him.

He snapped to attention in surprise, and she looked at him expectantly. "...yes."

"And you're giving them a head start because..." she prodded.

Sephiroth glared at her, annoyed by her attempts to pull an explanation from him. "I do not understand. If they think I am odd for killing an enemy, maybe they should see how much odder it is when the enemy lives."

She laughed. "Oh, so that's it. Don't worry," she said, touching his arm briefly. "It's not the delivery. It's just your method was so extraordinary. I couldn't think of any man in history, general or no, with the ability to do what you just did." Aeris bit her lip a little, trying not to anger him with honesty. "But hey, look at it this way. They'll always respect you now!"

He was silent, but that was normal.

"Come on, or we'll never ever catch up to the people who went ahead on the birds."

.

The inside of the mine was bright for a cavern. Whatever material composed the walls shimmered and was almost luminescent. Aeris gasped in surprise. "It's so pretty!"

"Eh?" Sephiroth looked around, paying attention to the appearance of his surroundings for the first time. "Not dirty like the city, I suppose," he allowed himself to remark.

"It's like we're in a flower," the girl breathed, hugging herself.

"Hey guys." Zack was walking back towards them. He kept his voice low. "I think we've got company up ahead. Shinra scum." A glance. "No offense."

Flaring green mako eyes diverted to the girl in pink, briefly, then cooled back down. "None taken. What does it look like? Foot soldiers...or more like First-class Soldiers?"

"More like Turks. Teef's on lookout while I came back here so we can discuss our next move."

"We need a discussion?"

He shrugged and ran a hand through his black spikes. "I'm not sure. It seems like we have two options. Confront them and blow our cover, or let them go on ahead, try not to cross our paths, and they still don't know where any of us are for a little while longer." He blinked. "I personally prefer option number two."

Silver hair brushed past him as Sephiroth walked forward. "I shall observe them quietly and see if they reveal any information regarding the company's current motives. I suggest the two of you stay back here and ensure no more enter from that direction." He left them, silently going on ahead.

"More than one person up there is risky, but that's not important if you're the 'Great Sephiroth,'" Zack muttered.

"I don't think anyone's giving him much credit for how he's handling the situation," replied Aeris cheerfully.

"I'll give him credit. _Badly_. If he made it any more obvious how little he thought of any of us–"

The flower girl held up a hand. "Peace, now. Do you really think that he's only fueled by…condescension?" She shook her head. "If my memory is right, he spent at least as much, if not more, of his childhood in the same lab where Shinra'd locked me up. I've been wondering lately if he was constructed there–that Raieyana girl proves it's a viable possibility."

"So? She's friendly at least, if you're not Reno, and kinda cute, too. He..." He shook his head.

"He was their pride. Until he was their shame. Even at the top of his career, all he had was himself. All alone. It's no wonder he thinks so _little_ of others...I don't believe he thinks of them at all. He never really had to, before."

"What about his men? This guy was a general."

Aeris tilted her head thoughtfully. "Do you really see the guy as having this great rapport with all the people under him?"

"You have a point."

"I'm sure he saw them as valuable tools. But he was only the Shinra's tool himself. You see how they instantly blamed the president's assassination on him. They can't possibly believe he was the sole person responsible. He's the scapegoat. For the war, for death, and it's sad that he doesn't even care, y'know?"

"You learned all that in such a short period of time?" Zack scratched his head. "To me, this guy's harder to read than an Ancient prophecy."

"I think I've only scratched the surface, honestly. Nothing is ever simple enough to be summed up in a few sentences. But you have your reasons for doing things your way...and he has his. I'm not sure we could ever hope to understand."

* * * * * *

"_The never-ending ache thrives in me. The Planet's plague is eternal. A death-spiral everlasting spins, and even its echoes are out of control. Thrown into the melee of the chaos, I search for a nonexistent light. The darkness closes in around me; I am the tunnel, and I will never have an end."_

_Robert Gast put down the scroll with a sigh. "None of these words on Jenova seem very promising."_

"_Is that really important?" Hojo glanced up from his test tubes, briefly. "Very few leaders are remembered admirably if their reign ends. This body was abandoned in frigid ice under several layers of stone even before time buried it. The Cetra had a coup d'etat, or something, that's all."_

"_I just think assuming that this is the body of an Ancient stands against the scientific method."_

"_The cultures react well in this simple glucose solution. We can grow vats of it. No more agar gels. Next, I'm going to try mako..."_

"_Kai, are you even listening to me? None of these writings mention anything except for plagues in conjunction with the woman they buried up north."_

_He carefully filled more test tubes with a pipette. Soon, the rest were all filled with the glowing mako. "She must have commanded a great wealth of power. The better for Shinra."_

_Gast slammed his fist on the lab counter, toppling the test tubes. The contents of each spilled onto the floor as the glassware shattered into pieces. "We need more tests before you just do whatever the hell strikes your fancy with this shit!"_

"_Calm yourself." Hojo shook his head. "You send all my work crashing to the ground and then tell me _I'm_ the one who needs to be reasonable? Let's get this straight right now. You may be above me in such a foolish designation as seniority, but I'm not going to let your fear stand in the way of a breakthrough. You say this body used to be called Jenova? The Cetra quaked in their boots because of one simple woman? Fine. Find me some real proof to this claim."_

"_Proof? I have the writing–"_

_The young scientist laughed. "Find me a Cetra to stop this 'madness.' Until you do..."_

"_What?"_

_He smiled, and, suddenly, several security guards appeared in the doorway to the lab. "...you are no longer welcome in the laboratory here at Shinra headquarters. You are unstable and hindering important scientific business. I'm sorry, Rob, but unless you have substantiation or abandon this foolish line of thinking, there's nothing else a true intellect such as myself can possibly do to appease you."_

_Fuming, Dr. Gast allowed the escort to lead him away from the lab where the most exciting breakthroughs of the past ten years had occurred, by his own hand. Hojo's laughter accompanied his exit. The sound rang in his ears all the way into the elevator. But he would not let the fool have the last word on his folly. No._

_He would comply with Hojo's wishes. If it were the last act of his life, he'd search the Planet. Somewhere, there was a stone left unturned. Crouching behind it, he knew he'd find the gem that would unlock his research._

_He would find the last of the Cetra._


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

.

"I swear, upon the memory of this company's founders, to uphold the quality and tradition of Shinra, Inc., in faithfully serving the people of Midgar. I promise to fulfill my duties as Chief Officer of the executive board, to the best of my abilities, until I am no longer needed in such capacity–"

Reeve switched off his television and sighed. He glanced at the furnishings of his recently acquired apartment with distaste.

(Corporate living's not the life for me, no siree.)

Everything was fake now, from the posh airs of his surroundings to the new president's speech at the press conference. (Rufus Shinra. Pansy spoiled rich boy, debonair.) His words that evening were a startling contrast to those he gave at the emergency executive council held at dawn.

.

"_We have no time to mourn." Rufus' nostrils flared. "Shit's really starting to hit the fan. The old man lying in a congealing puddle. The head Turk gone. Two of the experiment specimens located and subsequently lost. A riot in Gongaga at the construction site." He shook his head._

_Scarlet's voice was honey coated. "I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we are all very sorry for your–"_

"_What...the...__**fuck**__...were you people __**doing**__?!" He held up his hand. "No. It's not worth it. As pro temp, I nominate myself to take over my father's position immediately. Any objections?" He glanced around. Flames of fury danced in his blue eyes._

_Not a word of argument came from the board. Low morale had made them very malleable, on the whole._

"_Good." A pause. "The old man was soft. People are like sheep. We can just lead them to the slaughter. Sure, they make a bit more noise on their way there, but if you listen to the bleating, you'll end up like ol' Max Shinra. Loser of wars, found dead...long after he'd gone cold and stiff."_

_The Head of Science winced. "Rufus, I understand–"_

"_You were just as bad as he was," the young man snapped. "Frankly, Dr. Baker, you're on a one-strike policy with me."_

"_No," she hissed, throwing her lab coat on the table. "I'm sorry your daddy paid off your mommy and kept you all to his greedy self. I'm sorry you were never allowed near the other little kiddies, but I'm just too damn tired of trying to accommodate your neuroses. Find yourself a new, mad scientist because I'm proof that sane ones will never last."_

_Rufus was silent to her storming until she reached the door. "Shera, darling, what makes you think you'll make it out of the building alive?"_

_She smirked. "Because you've always underestimated me, boy." Apparently, he hadn't noticed the holsters resting on her shapely hips nor the silver glint of the pistols riding in them._

.

Reeve blinked back into awareness, realizing that the annoying tapping sound was coming from his own fingers nervously drumming on the tabletop. He reached inside his pocket and brought out a brand new pack of cigarettes. As he removed the cellophane wrapping, he attempted to chastise himself.

(I'm only trying it once. Probably won't do a thing to calm the nerves, anyway.) With that, he excused himself. Reeve solemnly lit the first of the pack and inhaled a puff of the dark into his soul.

* * * * * *

"It's getting dark," Jessie said quietly.

Rude nodded. "Others got held up."

"Maybe..." her brow furrowed. "Reno should have made it at least, though."

"He's probably having a bitchfight with that chick. Either that, or..." he chuckled.

"Or what?" she asked, innocent.

He cleared his throat. "Weather cleared up nice after that storm we had, didn't it?"

"..._Rude_."

"Wanna go ahead and pitch a tent?"

"Don't try and chang–"

He stood up. "Gonna make me do it all by myself, Jess?"

"_**Rudolph**_!"

* * * * * *

Aeris approached the campfire and its stoic keeper cautiously. She lightly set down her now-full canteen of water before speaking. "They've already turned in?"

A smirk seemed to enter his eyes at her astonished tone. "The girl seems to not enjoy my presence," Sephiroth said tersely.

"Does anyone?" she teased. After eliciting no response, she rolled her eyes and made another conversation attempt. "I can't believe, after the media hoopla, that Shinra sent Turks after the _real_ killer in the end."

"Why? A Shinra-hating murderer should be eliminated, no matter what story they feed the masses. They would be fools to invite the survival of yet more terrorists."

"They are _fools _already. Their headquarters weren't even safe."

"The culprit would already be in their hands, had I not been busy removing you from the lab."

The brunette winced. "You mean the president might still be alive if I were still locked up?" She sniffed a bit.

"I said nothing of the sort. The killer would not be still free, if you were left in the lab."

"Then," she began with a firm voice, "you ought to have left me in my cell. Who knows how many more people will die?"

Sephiroth poked at the embers with the tip of his sword. "The president may have deserved his fate. You did not. Think no more of this."

Standing up, Aeris shook her head. "I'm not like you. I can't just stop thinking of a corpse because I'm better off that way." She scoffed at him. "I've tried to give you the benefit of every doubt, but even I can't help but wonder why you bothered to do what you did. You don't seem to have an iota of compassion."

His voice remained flat. "I have one. One iota."

"Yeah."

"I..." he trailed off. "I remembered _you_. If one thing could ever live in memory to haunt me, it would be knowing I had left you to be violated by a beast in the name of..._science_."

She shrank back from the warm circle the flames projected. "...beast..."

"Granted, the anatomical problems presented by such things would be a curious problem to see solved...even one such as I can see that it would be despicable to force sentient beings to solve them. …one iota. Maybe _that _is why I lost the war."

Her green eyes still betrayed her total horror and shock. The very words whispered behind his back, dying on the lips of those criticizing in front of face, leaving his own lips. "...why you..."

"Have you not heard the whispers? Killer of mothers. One who rapes children. Perhaps I am. In the end, that was still not enough. Pity, then, I can't even recall most of it." On that note, he stood up, cloak swishing behind him. He paused before entering the empty tent. "Don't tarry. The fire dies, and you will need energy for the trip tomorrow."

.

She slowly sank to her knees, hugging herself for warmth. Nothing was making sense at all, anymore. There was a method to the madness, once, wasn't there? She'd psychoanalyzed the madman, made a few cross-references, and the conclusion had satisfied her.

Aeris had thought she'd gotten a handle on the once-great Sephiroth, but she was wrong. She had no idea what was going on in his head, excepting the fact that he seemed to hold heavy concern for her. And that was why she was afraid.

* * * * * *

She sat up suddenly, lips parting, breath panting; her head hit the taut canvas above. Hazy shadows materialized a bit around her, and then she remembered where she was.

(Not Nibelheim..._not_ Nibelheim. I'm in a tent. Practically in the middle of nowhere.)

With that, Tifa attempted to settle herself back down into her sleeping roll. If she didn't get any rest, she might end up holding the group back in the morning. And who knows what he'll...

(..._the middle of nowhere would make it easier for him, wouldn't it_?)

A soft whimper managed to escape from her lips.

"That's it," a voice beside her mumbled, "I'm not pretending that I'm asleep any more."

"Fine. Just _go_ to sleep then."

"Tifa." Zack sat up, rubbing his head. "You've been tossing, turning, whimpering, and moaning for hours. Not only that, but you've been acting weird ever since that Sephiroth guy showed up. He freaks me a bit, too, but it's not like he's gonna kill us in our sleep, right?"

"I wouldn't put it past him."

"I think we'd have to give him a reason to, first." He attempted a grin in the dark.

"He was a cold-blooded general. No matter what the outcome of things was in the end, he will always be that merciless killer. Just because he couldn't make the rest of his Soldiers perform on the level he did doesn't...detract from his killing."

"Stop talking like you have first hand experience, kay, Teef? It's creepin' me out."

She was silent for a little while. "A lot of troops passed by my village during the war. A whole lot. Over the years, there were a lot of accidents that really weren't accidents, that's all."

"I know you have your reasons for thinking the Shinra are monsters. I do, too. And there's no question that Sephiroth is..._was_ one of them." He touched her hand. "But he's been nothing but helpful to us. Even if he's stiff, cold, and freaking us all out." Zack snuggled himself back into his bedroll. "So try to get some sleep. We're probably the safest people on the Planet right now."

Tifa rested her head back on her pillow, slightly confused. Because everything she'd just been told was true. (He's not a bit like he was on that day. He doesn't even seem to recollect the name of Nibelheim, let alone anything that... But that just makes it harder. What is wrong with him...what did Shinra do to him... Or is it just that he's killed so many, that Cloud was a meaningless little boy...)

She began to drift off to sleep. Right as her consciousness slipped across the brink, the same words that always resounded came back to haunt her one more time. (_To kill so many, and then spare me... Why?_)


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

.

The dreams were the hardest.

They sunk down to her core and terrified her. Deep, drowning shadows in the black. They moved, rising to pique her curiosity, sinking to taunt her into submission. And it wasn't begging that was the desire or the intent, oh no. That was just a bonus point.

Every now and then, a bright light would cast one of the shadows aflame. Instead of a hole, there was now..._something_...another piece to the puzzle. The problem here was...flipping over random pieces of a jigsaw puzzle gain you nothing but a few spots of color.

None of the pieces fit together. Not yet.

Nothing could be linked. No rhyme.

No reason.

.

Raieyana never could figure out what was her true fear. Was it the dreams? Or was it the fact she could never seem to understand why she woke up screaming...

.

"Holy hell, woman."

Green mako eyes cautiously fluttered open. The girl's chest rose and fell in softening heaves. "What?" She tainted the question with faux innocence.

"You sleep into the late hours of the morning, and then wake up with a noise that could startle a banshee." Reno winced a bit.

(He's nervous.)

"We're _hiding_. If anyone was close...nearby...we're..." He shook his head. "I don't even want to think about it. I just want to get our asses out of here."

"Get rid of me, you mean." But her heart just wasn't in the egging on, this time. Raieyana stood up and dusted off her clothes. "I'm ready to leave when you are."

"The coast looks pretty clear," he admitted. "But I still want to stick to the woods, cross back over the river as close to the ocean as possible...if it were yesterday, I would say it was too dangerous to risk. Today, it's too dangerous to risk any other way."

"The others may catch up to us."

"It would be better if they didn't. Small groups are easier to hide. And harder to shoot at."

The slight softening of Reno's voice made her wonder. (He sounds like...he says those things from experience.) Suddenly, she noticed his eyes on her.

_Flash_.

She blinked. For a moment, his eyes seemed to glow brighter than anything she'd ever seen--but no...

"Raieyana?"

That wasn't real. It couldn't be real. (He's standing right in front of me, like always. His eyes are an interesting shade, but they're definitely not glowing. Slum kids from Midgar don't have glowing eyes.)

"Are you listening to me?"

(_Not in this lifetime, they don't. But you dream in this lifetime, don't you?_)

"We've gotta get out of here, so cut the crap!"

(Oh...god... His eyes...they glowed in my dream. Reno was...and he was hurting and he was...)

Reno grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "What the hell?" She looked up at him in fear. "I'm sorry, so sorry. We can go now." Raieyana headed towards the mouth of the cave.

"What's wrong?"

Pausing, she glanced back at him. "The nightmare...wasn't anything out of the ordinary. For me. I think. But, you see, I always forget them even before I wake up."

"Completely?"

A nod. "Today I remembered."

She'd gone completely out into the eleven o'clock sunlight. And Reno was so stunned--though not sure why he was surprised, let alone cared--he didn't follow her. For a second or two.

* * * * * *

"What the hell is that?" Brown eyes blinked at a large, pillar shaped building that was topped with what seemed to be a giant pile of twigs and leaves.

"It certainly is not Junon, making it no concern of ours, correct?" Sephiroth breezed on, passing his awed traveling mates.

Zack still wanted an answer to his question. "Teef? You know?"

"I only heard the name, once, when I was traveling to Midgar years ago. Fort Condor."

Aeris cocked her head to the side. "There's a giant nest on top of that place!"

The ex-general turned back to them, exasperated. "The people there keep to themselves. A long held opposition point to Shinra, a militia of sorts. They pay their mako bill and keep those annoying oversized birds out of our airspace, so we let them be. That is the policy. There is talk, lately, of something valuable to us being hidden there, so to stop there is to risk running into Soldiers. Do you want this?"

"We could take 'em," mumbled Zack as he turned to continue on.

Aeris blinked back surprise. "I don't know if he's ever spoken that much at one time," she remarked to Tifa.

(That's just one little simple surprise, to her. I'm surprised every moment that goes by where that man doesn't try to kill one of us.)

* * * * * *

Rude closed his eyes as the concrete floor spun beneath him. His lungs lurched in a spasm, and his cough sprayed blood on the cold, smooth surface. His entire body shook; he lay, propped up by his elbows, barely clutching to the handle of consciousness. The ringing in his ears and the roaring behind his eyes begged him to let go, so the door could shut.

But if there were ever a time he had to keep his wits about him, this was it, so he swung at the pain, beating it back into submission. Slowly and precisely, he turned his back to a clean part of the floor and willed himself to relax. His mind slowly cleared as he focused his concentration on the number of ceiling tiles above him.

(What the hell happened?)

Simple question. Complex, quite possibly confusing, answer. Okay, definitely confusing.

(It was that goddamn chocobo, though I can't understand how that would tip off anyone, unless...) Rude's stomach turned and threatened to empty itself, disgusted with the possibilities that were swarming his brain. The girl was a stranger to him, Reno himself practically the same, yet there was definitely some doom involved if they'd been picked up in any way similar to his and Jessie's–

(Jessie...) He winced. His solitary confinement indicated the obvious, that the two of them had been separated after the scuffle, the events of which were still immersed in a hazy blur. He'd fought as hard as he possibly could. Under any sort of ordinary arrest circumstances, this would have been more than enough. Living the latter part of his formative years on the streets of an unforgiving city had taught Rude how to single-handedly deal with a gang of brutes.

(They just kept coming and coming...) At first Rude had kept things under control. Then once the grand total of soldiers surrounding them rose over the magical number of fifteen, he'd gotten separated from Jessie. Near the number thirty, he'd been nearly completely subdued, and all the previous attempts had left him battered and taser-burned.

(It's like they were expecting us. All of us. But the only ones they got were me and Jessie.) His breathing became more steady, even as his mind slowly spun towards panic level. (Jessie and me...we're not much, but we're still Phoenix. And part of Midgar...is filled with bodies.)

Rude closed his eyes and slowly drifted towards unconsciousness. Just as he floated over the edge, the roar in his ears came back full force. It sounded like a lynch mob.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

.

Raieyana cautiously stepped along the smooth sidewalk of Main Street. They weren't taking any chances, now. Not after what they saw outside of the city.

"I was expecting to see Shinra. I wasn't expecting such a horde of soldiers outside," muttered Reno.

She bit her lip. "But we talked about it. You only did one mission with Phoenix, and I'm not even a part of them. I'm sure that we're not even _on_ the Shinra radar. I don't know why you're so freaked out about this."

"Look, I know that you've been in some hairy situations. But I don't think you understand just how much your daddy bailed you out of them. Can you please acknowledge the fact that we're on security tapes from the day that the president _died_, and that's probably not a positive thing?" he hissed.

"And I led us up here using a very unusual, rarely used service route. The same way I got out of the city if there were Turks around. We should be fine." Raieyana marched on, holding her head high. "We're getting close to home, anyway. Then we can both be rid of each other, and you can find Rude and Jessie, and you can go warn the others..." Her voice trailed off, and she glanced around.

There wasn't anyone walking next to her.

"Reno?" She tensed up. (Oh no, what if something happened to him...) Then she spied him, about half a block back, near the window of an electronics store. Rolling her eyes, she stormed over to him. "For the love of Bahamut, what is it with you men and techy stuff?"

"Shut up!"

She followed his gaze to the television screen in the store window.

Rude and Jessie's images weren't just your standard "Wanted" poster pics or mug shots. Shinra had gone all out for the media in this venture. The pictures on the screen were about as graphic as dinner table discussion news gets (which is pretty damn graphic when all is said and done), and they were obviously taken after the two of them had been roughed up a bit. According to the graphic scrolling on the bottom of the screen, they were both to be executed the following evening.

"They must have gotten here first," Raieyana murmured. "That's the only scenario where Shinra could get a hold of them without instantly looking for us. They figure that we either scattered in every direction, or split up and all headed here. They're just waiting for us."

"For _us_, huh?" His lips formed a small smirk.

She missed his insinuation. "Yeah. This whole newscast was just bait. They want someone to try and rescue them. They want someone else to catch."

"Better reason for me to get you home safe and sound real quick, huh?"

"You can't honestly mean that, can you?"

"Look." Reno's eyes broke contact. "The Aeris thing was...well, against my better judgment, to be completely honest. Let me talk here."

Her eyes still threatened to interrupt, but she gave him a small nod.

"It was your business. She was being traded for you, and you did offer a lot that helped the search out. Familiarity with the building. Familiarity with the people. All of that. But you're not a part of this. Not a part of Phoenix, and not a part of what's happening now. Yes, it's still an evil bit on Shinra's part, but that's not..._shouldn't_ be your concern."

"You can't possibly be thinking of going in there alone!"

"I haven't decided whether that's exactly what I'm doing, or if I'm waiting for Tifa and Zack."

"I can help you," Raieyana insisted. "There's no reason for you to have to storm in there alone."

A half-smile. "Yes there is. I promised to protect her. Just like I gave my word that I'd bring you home. And that's why you can't come along."

She set her face in a disinterested expression. "Well, then. I suppose we should get along towards my place, then." She began to walk away quickly, her strides longer than what seemed possible for someone of her height.

Reno's look flashed briefly with confusion, and then he hurried to keep up with her. He suspected that there was more to her sudden compliance than met the eye.

He was right.

* * *

A feeling of dread hit the pit of Tifa's stomach when she saw the mound of black feathers in the distance. While their walking path was merely going to pass fifty yards alongside it, she could not help but keep her eyes trained on it. (Simply a coincidence...maybe chocobos are really bad about molting...)

"Selling flowers, huh? Are you _sure_ that's not some sort of euphemism?" Zack teased.

"I'm surprised that you even know what the word euphemism means!" Aeris parried back with faux outrage. "I don't think I like what you're insinuating."

"Nothing wrong with smoking a little herb, if you can get your hands on it. Or selling any extra you happen to come across..."

The girl snorted.

Tifa had tuned out their chatter, mostly, delegating it as background noise. It was what initially had distracted from her goal of keeping both eyes fixated on Sephiroth stalking his way across the grassland. Close enough to keep well-trained ears tuned to his traveling companions, far enough away to not have to pay more attention than was necessary.

The path he was cutting angled even further away from the black mound, closer to a stream running nearby.

A glance back at Aeris and Zack told Tifa that interrupting them to ask their opinion would take too much time. Taking a deep breath, she quickened her step to fall in pace with their self-appointed leader.

.

"...yes?" The tone was so cold that she was surprised the stoic man had deigned to notice without some preemptive begging on her side.

"I...um..."

"Spit it out." He was practically hissing out the side of his mouth.

She swallowed. "I was wondering if, maybe, there were a better place to try and cross the stream. We seem to be coming on it suddenly. I thought we might—"

"You have little experience in this sort of environment. I assure you that I am taking the path of least resistance towards our destination."

Tifa gulped, but it suddenly struck her what Sephiroth was saying and what he was _not_ saying. She found her own voice creeping lower, unconsciously keeping her words from their other two companions' ears. "You saw the feathers, then? And oddly lumpy looking pile of them? Shouldn't we go make sure that it isn't—"

"There is little need. I could tell from quite a distance back that it was a corpse, and black chocobos are uncommon enough." His calculating green eyes finally slid from some obscure goal beyond them, to meet her own. "However, I am surprised to see that it is not larger, or accompanied by a twin."

"One dead bird, then?"

Quiet laughter in the distance told them both that Aeris and Zack were both occupied and had fallen behind. The former general's steps slowed. "I was hoping to guide," he grimaced, as if choking back words he oughtn't say, "all of you away. Premature alarm may only lead to panic."

"I suppose it's not impossible to have a chocobo get really sick, lame, or die on the way. Bad luck, right?" She looked up at him.

"If you consider being machine-gunned down 'bad luck.'" The ghost of a smirk hovered around his lips.

Tifa's eyes narrowed, and she felt her body fidget in panic. She couldn't help but try and meet Zack's eyes. They were in grave danger! They needed to get out of the open, try and figure out how to rescue...Reno? Rude or Jessie? She became aware that another pair of eyes was coldly evaluating her response to this news. She tore her attention back. "You seem..._too_ calm," she managed.

"Panic does none of us any good."

"But...our friends—"

"Were not all together. The rest of us are. Do you realize how close the opposite bank of that stream is to the tree line?"

A breath. "Very."

"That gives us two things-cover and additional resources to track anyone who may have passed before us. Any evidence is very important. That bird was taken down from the air. Do you understand?" His eyes stayed locked to hers, both their movement now completely stilled.

Tifa could hear the others catching up, moments ticking away as she contemplated what he had said. "Junon's the only way off the continent. We need to approach with caution, and, even if you don't care one way or another about helping my friends, knowing what happened to them will tell you what to expect in the city."

.

A curt nod, and then his gaze traveled back towards Zack and Aeris. They had finally caught up, and their voices trailed off.

"What's wrong?" Aeris asked, brows furrowing.

"If you two were tired enough as to need a rest, you should have inquired about stopping. Dawdling will keep us exposed longer than a brief respite would."

"I wasn't aware we were in that much of a hurry." Zack crossed his arms, looking towards Tifa to gauge her mood.

"We need to get to the others, or Junon, soon. Before the Shinra are completely mobilized." She tried to keep her voice even. Every fiber within her was fighting keeping even a brief conversation with Sephiroth in confidence.

"We heard the Turks. They're going after whoever really killed their President."

"The Turks," Sephiroth sneered, "are a very elite squad. While lower ranks are of very little concern to me, I do find their numbers and their swarm to be tiresome." He jerked his head towards the tree line. "Make haste over the water, and break for a meal in the forest. I shall walk behind you this time."

Zack scoffed. "Who are you to make us march-"

"I want to scout the trees to see how the others preceded us. Sometime this day." Something in his eyes must have urged Zack to step down, because he nudged Aeris and began picking his way across the water in front of him.

"Lunch will be good, anyway," the flower-girl declared brightly, throwing a small smile in Tifa's direction.

Tifa felt her lips curve upward, a nod accompanying. A glance upwards told her that the cold eyes were silently appraising her again. The question came out of nowhere. "So, then. Do I pass?"

Sephiroth's face had become a mask of annoyance. "If I were to waste my time on something as meaningless as a test, you would have no need for my response." He strode towards the water without as much as a peek back at her.

She schooled her expression as she followed behind. She could've wasted time contemplating how he'd seen no need to goad her on to the forest. She could've wasted time arguing that it'd make more sense to keep the entire group moving on with the city approaching.

Instead, Tifa contemplated the amount of time he seemed to be willing to "waste" on her—and his motivation for doing so.

* * *

"I'm happy to see that you all could get here on such short notice."

Reeve grit his teeth as his fellow executives cheerfully exchanged pleasantries with the head of Junon police. It was bad enough to frame someone for the horrible deed the company had done itself, but now they were all expected to be present at the execution as a show of solidarity. He wondered if it was too late to go the way of Dr. Baker.

"So, when is the event scheduled, Mr..." Scarlet let her voice trailed off in a way she must have believed sounded flirtatious, but seemed closer to confused.

"Dyne. Just Dyne." He drummed his fingers on the edge of a nearby desk. "I was actually waiting for your arrival to cement the final details. Tomorrow is what we announced to the press, while lauding the capture of the criminals. As for time, sooner rather than later would be best for our security issues."

"I'd make it afternoon, at least," Rufus remarked almost thoughtfully. "Wasn't the point of announcing this whole thing to flush out the other scum?"

"I just wanted to reduce the chances of a security breach—"

The new president snorted. "Security breach? While our regime change was only a short while ago, I assure you that such things are part of an ugly past. I trust you to have made the area holding them as tight as possible. Scarlet will help fortify your outside defenses."

The idea of collaboration seemed to please the woman greatly, as she immediately grabbed Dyne's arm, half-dragging him out of the room. "I think we can begin with some automaton gunners around the roof perimeter..."

Rufus sat behind Dyne's desk, resting his elbows upon it and steepling his fingers. "We can't just rely on using the prisoners as bait. Heidegger?"

The burly man nodded.

"Take Jordan and head down to the detainment area. I want you to question the prisoners about their associates and plans."

Reeve noted with disgust the grin that began to grow on his coworker's face at the order.

"Take care with them. They need to be in solid, recognizable pieces when they head to their chairs tomorrow."

"Of course, sir!" Heidegger headed towards the door.

"...do you have a problem?" Rufus turned his eyes towards his newest executive. The young man _had_ been his idiot father's last hire, but his complicity in the Sector 7 flush rang with the ruthlessness his position required.

"It's just...sir, I don't believe that your assignment is in my area of expertise. I don't know what good I could do." Reeve tried to beat his conscience into submission, wording his objection into something unemotional.

"Have you ever heard of the idea 'good cop/bad cop'?" The president smirked. "I'm not expecting you to be able to directly pump information out of them...but I think you could be convincing-especially after they watch you hold him back."

A swallow and a nod. "If you believe so, I will try my best." He met the eyes of his new employer, wondering if there was a possibility his doubts were written plainly upon his face.

"Then you better go. We don't have much time to get what we want."


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

.

The stoic face was less stony than normal. "Good news or bad news?" Zack asked, holding out a sandwich to Sephiroth.

Waving the offer away with one hand, the man took a few steps towards the fallen log the two women were seated on. "I backtracked a mile and found a cave on this side of the river. I missed it initially, because my attentions were focused elsewhere. Evidence of a fire, one red hair, and signs of two people staying there. Nearly a half-mile towards Junon, within these very trees, I found the remnants of another campsite. Two bedrolls were trampled by the boots of many feet."

Aeris gasped. "Reno and Raieyana have been—"

Sephiroth held up an object. "This leads me to believe that your friends made camp separately last night."

A shattered pair of sunglasses.

"Goddammit," Zack swore, jumping to his feet. "Rude and Jessie!"

"They've been taken," Tifa said softly.

"There were chocobo tracks around the second camp," Sephiroth added, meeting her eyes.

"You think Reno was taken, too."

He laid the broken glasses in her gloved hand and laid his fingertips over his eyes. "Given the placement of all the evidence, I am led to wonder if your two friends betrayed Red and the girl."

"Jessie would never do that," Tifa said.

Zack nodded fervently. "He's an ass, but Reno's been her guardian for years."

"What of the other?" Sephiroth held up a hand to halt their protests. "I mean no disrespect to your companions, but there are many ways to make one talk."

"You would know!" the other man bit back.

"I would, indeed." His flashing eyes bore no argument.

.

Aeris bit her lip. "Do you think they brought them back to Midgar?"

"No. Junon is also Shinra's. They have facilities to detain and punish them."

The girl looked up at him in horror. "You know how to get in there, right? If we hurry, we might be able to get them out, before-"

"Our concern should be towards our own flight from the continent. The risk is—"

She jumped to her feet. "Even if you don't care about their friends one bit, you know that Reno and Raieyana will be framed for the president's death just as much as you are."

Sephiroth crossed his arms impatiently. "Do not tell me that you are still operating under the delusion that their safety is somehow my responsibility."

"Neither one of them would have been in the building at all that night, if it weren't for your actions." She laid a hand on his arm and felt the tension there. "It may have been your _job_, but you have a mind. You bear the consequences just the same."

"Pause and think. Where would we be if I threw all of us to the wolves in the infinitesimal chance that we could break them free? Deliver us all into Shinra hands. Would not the effort be better spent making sure some of us escaped?"

"Hey!" Zack interrupted. "You're acting like you'd have to do all of this on your own. We managed to fuck up two of their reactors and get completely out of the city without any help from your majesty. Surely our quick thinking with your knowledge evens the odds."

Tifa clutched Rude's glasses to her chest. "You must realize that we'll head straight for them, with or without you."

"I will, too." Aeris narrowed her eyes. "You don't want all of your good deeds to end up pointless?"

Sephiroth stepped back. "Why would I free you if I was unwilling to let you put your own life to waste? It is unfortunate, but I have no wish to lock you up myself." He sat himself down on the newly unoccupied log, snatching up the sandwich Zack had let fall to the ground.

"What are you—"

"I imagine that haste would be the best course of action, if you wish to 'rescue' your friends before they are executed," he sneered. "I shall not deter you from your noble, _futile_ cause. Pardon me, if I think best my arrival to the city be separate from the commotion yours will surely be."

"Come on." Zack guided Tifa forward, hand on the small of her back. "He is right…we need to hurry."

Aeris remained rooted to the ground a few moments, before kneeling next to Sephiroth. "I _am_ grateful for what you did for me. I just wish-"

He waved a hand in dismissal. "Waste little times on wishes, Ms. Gainsborough. They are for fools."

She dusted herself off and began to follow the others. "Everyone's a fool, sometimes."

Once the three had covered enough distance to cover him from their dull senses, he stood. His keen eyes were able to detect their flashes through the screen of the vegetation. "What marks the difference between a sage and a fool is the distance that divides his actions from his desires."

* * *

Reno had never talked very often about his time in prison. Jessie had never pressed him; she had thought she understood his reasons why. Now, however, she found herself wishing she had asked him more questions. Had he ever been put in solitary? Had he ever been interrogated? How many times did he believe that he was about to die?

"In with you," the guard grunted, as he used her cuffed wrists to propel her into the small room. On one side of a table sat two men: a large one, with a hint of something approaching glee in his eyes, and a smaller one, clean-cut and nervous.

She felt herself being steered towards the empty chair on the other side. Rough movement on her shoulders forced her downwards. Her cuffs were removed, and her wrists were placed in shackles attached to either side of the table. Fighting panic, she glanced downwards, only to see that the table was bolted to the floor.

"That's all for now. We'll send word when we're done with her," the large one said.

(Done with me. What will that take, I wonder?)

He began to pace, back and forth, hands clasped behind his back. As if deep in thought. Jessie felt the dark eyes of the smaller man still upon her. She tried to still the trembling that threatened to take over her face, her body.

(I wonder what they did to Rude…) But she realized that she was the weak link of Phoenix. The person they usually left behind. She did not have fighting skills beyond being a moderate shot with a pistol. She lacked the scars the others did.

As the large man turned to her suddenly, she knew. Rude hadn't seen this room yet, because they were sure they could break _her_.

.

Reeve wasn't sure what he'd expected of the prisoners. He'd seen the surveillance cam images, revealing various members of a terrorist organization. As far as they'd known, there'd only been one woman, lithe, shapely, and scarred. This small woman with a pile of mouse-colored hair and eyes like the ocean was not what he saw in his mind's eye when he heard the word "terrorist."

(Stop trying to fool yourself, Jordan. The first thing you should think of when it comes to "terrorist" is what you see in the mirror each morning.)

Heidegger finally found his voice. "We are all aware of the reasons you are here. We are all aware that you did not do what you have done single-handedly. Where are the others?" He had made his way towards her, as he spoke, and his face was now very close to hers.

"I—I…" she croaked, shaking her head.

"Hang on," Reeve heard himself say. He was given a glare by his partner for the "interruption." He shook his head in return. "Do you think you'll be able to get someone to talk if they've not even had a sip of water since getting the shit kicked out of 'em? Physically impossible." His hands dug a bottle of water and a straw out of the bag next to him. Holding it up, so the prisoner could watch him break the tamper proof seal, he opened the bottle, stuck in the straw, and slid it within distance of her mouth.

Keeping her eyes on him cautiously, she leaned over and took a couple sips of the liquid.

"Better?"

"…I guess." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"What's your name?"

"You mean you don't already know?"

He heard Heidegger snort, but he continued on. "You're here because we want to know all about you."

"I'm not going to get any amnesty, and I know you can't have any proof about anything I may have done." He could see her blink back tears. "So maybe we could be honest, and not waste each others' time."

Heidegger leaned forward, slamming his hands on the table. Reeve could see her hair move with his every exhalation, the man had moved so close. "It would be to your benefit not to waste ours."

"What do you want to know?" The fear in her voice had him biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from interrupting.

"Jordan's question first. Name." An order, not a question, this time.

"Jessie…Jessica Baxter."

"Do you parents know the terrible things you've done? The people you've hurt? Killed?"

"My mother died when I was a child. My father…died in Wutai. He was drafted, and he didn't make it." A story similar to so many others. The classic tale of life in the Midgar slums. "If they knew what I did with my life, what I've accomplished…I think they would have been satisfied."

"Ah, you see, Jordan? The pointlessness of trying to debate restoration after the attack on Sector 7. Criminals beget criminals. The best course of action continues to be extermination."

"You killed them! There were whispers of what you might do, they knew it the slums. Just because we tried to stop you-" She was silenced by Heidegger's blow to the face.

Reeve watched her twist, testing the manacles subconsciously. Like there was a chance she'd get far if the restraints gave way. "Look, it doesn't have to be like this," he said, his words leaving quickly. "All we want to know is what happened to the others."

"Be like what? Even if I knew what or who you meant by the others…even if I knew where they were…even if I told you. I'm dead. What difference does it make?"

"I think once the pain starts, the difference will become crystal clear," Heidegger growled.

"I don't think she knows anything," Reeve argued.

He sneered. "Don't let the crying get to you so easily."

Reeve leaned in. "Haven't you realized that this woman isn't on any of the reactor tapes? The man was. At least we could get something of use from him. Maybe he fled with a whore from Wall Market or something." He didn't believe his own words, himself, but he wasn't going to be party to this woman's torture session, if he had anything to do with it. He needed the exact opposite of sympathy to convince his cohort.

He appraised the girl, watching the tears running down her face, her disheveled hair. "You _are_ a good observer. I suppose even the slums have a market for men who need slot on the cheap."

Jessie winced at his words, but said nothing else. Reeve stood and began punching in the code to unlock the restraints.

"What are you doing?"

Flashing Heidegger a cocky look, he grabbed the prisoner's arms and cuffed them behind her once more. "You don't think I can handle taking her back to the cell? No point in wasting the time getting some minimum wage shitstain to do it. I'll have someone drag the other down."

"Whatever floats your boat, Jordan. I'd think you'd be above Wall Market."

Reeve schooled his features. "Always liked taking advantage of a bargain." He jerked the girl to her feet and shoved her through the doorway.

.

She didn't know that her level of panic could rise any higher. But, when she realized that the younger man's prior appearance of concern and boredom had an ulterior motive, her legs began to quake.

One of his hands found hold under her arm, pulling her up. "I could take you back, if you're that opposed to being safe in your cell."

"You…call…it safe?" Jessie berated herself for the pathetic tone.

"It's the best I can do." The man sounded almost…apologetic.

With the press of a few buttons, and the swipe of his ID card, the door to her cell swung open. She was back. To the room where she'd spend the rest of her short life.

A deep breath, and her voice sounded stronger. "I don't know where they are. But they will come for me."

The man she'd heard called "Jordan" leaned in. "For your sake, I hope they do. But it would be best for them if they did not." The door bolted itself shut upon his exit, and she sunk down to the cold floor.

It was over, for her. She could only hope that she couldn't hear Rude's screams from the interrogation room. She could only hope that her friends were sailing over the ocean, safe. Jessie had no hope left for herself.

* * *

"I didn't expect the place to be as nondescript as this."

"We used to have several red-and-white bulls-eyes painted around the exterior, but then we decided it was a touch too conspicuous." Raieyana rolled her eyes before turning a key at the front door of the duplex.

"Doesn't Evil, Inc pay well enough to retire to a single residency?" Reno's voice was more curious than mocking, so she indulged him.

"My aunt and her daughter live in the other half. So, it's more a matter of choice than convenience." She strode in, calling as she entered. "Da-ad! I'm back!"

Nothing but silence.

A bit puzzled, she made her way further into the room.

"He must not be home, doll."

"I guess…but—"

There was an unsettling air to the room. A strange odor that Reno had initially written off as unfamiliarity, but had a bit of a long-forgotten tang, now that he thought about it. A bit metallic. The silence that hung around them broke when Raieyana's breath caught in her throat.

Three of them, slumped behind the couch. Hands tied behind them, positioned execution style.

"Daddy?" She fell to her knees, pressing her hand against the neck that lay beneath a wounded head.

Reno touched a hand to his nightstick. The green haze of the Cure spell that enveloped them all was an exercise in futility, but still something he had to try.

"He's cold. I'm sure they all are." That was when she looked up and met his eyes. "I'd like you to meet my Aunt Aula and her daughter, Aysta. I'm sure they'd be delighted to meet you, if they were actually still alive."

Urges rose within him, to say the comforting sorts of things that he never said, to explain the inexplicable. Instead, he broke eye contact. "If we stay here, someone will find us."

"That's not the only thing I'm worried about." She moved the hands of the smallest body, a girl who could not have been much older than herself, resting them on the girl's chest. "Shinra didn't do this."

"Come on, just because they humored your father, let him think that he was safe…that he could let his guard down…"

Raieyana jumped up, holding onto him, hands gripping his biceps. "Fine. Believe what you want to believe. But I can't let Shinra find them like this." Her body shook in a silent sob.

"What do you want _me_ to do?" He still thought her motivation came from denial.

"I need a few moments to retrieve some personal things, but… Were you one of the ones from Phoenix who made the bombs?"

"I can make due in a pinch, but I—"

"I want to keep them safe."

"Honey, they're beyond our help now." He moved to pull her closely, ease her grief, let her wait for reason to sink in.

She pulled away. "Set it up. I won't be more than five minutes."

"Raieyana, they're _dead_."

That was what made the tears break free. "Don't you understand what we saw in the lab? If death was the end of it all, they wouldn't have had Jenova locked up in a tank millions of years after its death. People like me aren't safe from them until our bodies are dust. We can do this one thing. They'll escape forever." She ran from the room.

As Reno began to dig things out from his bag, a thought struck him. Tseng had seem normal, if a bit harried. The experiment who'd been smuggled from Shinra science lab was still kicking in a room down the hall from where he stood. So what did these poor souls need protection from?

He walked over to the young girl Raieyana had protectively repositioned. On the inside of her wrist, the girl had a blue tattoo of the numeral _II_.


End file.
